BY Ebunoluwa Olafusi
The Ogun police command has denied allegation that men of its tactical team killed an “innocent member of the public” along Papalanto/Ilaro road of the state on Thursday.
A statement by Abimbola Oyeyemi, the police PPRO, described the report as “misleading”, adding that its officers had been carrying out their duty professionally, and the command had never received any complaint of professional misconduct against it from anybody.
Oyeyemi explained that on the said day, one of the officers, during a stop and search mission along the road, flagged down a car but the vehicle’s occupants refused to stop and fired a gunshot at the police.
He said the car sped off and crashed into the bush where the driver was arrested with wounds but that he died on the way to the hospital.
“Following a reported case of kidnapping involving a young man who was abducted in his father’s farm at Ishaga area of the state on Wednesday 18/7/21, the Command’s tactical teams were, as usual, deployed in and around the area for rescue operation, which usually involves risky and laborious bush combing and stop and search on the highways,” Oyeyemi said.
“One of the teams that were conducting stop and search at about 10:30 am along Papalanto-Ilaro road, flagged down a Honda Accord car. The driver did not stop. Rather, the occupants fired a gunshot at the policemen, to which they replied.
“The car sped off and crashed into the bush, some distance away from the pindown point of the policemen. The driver of the car was subsequently arrested with wounds, but he gave up the ghost on the way to the hospital, while the other occupants of the car fled into the bush.”
The police added that the car was searched by the officers in the presence of members of the public who were at the scene, including the Baale of the area, and a locally made pistol with two cartridges were recovered from it.
The force said the number plate of the car had been “hurriedly removed by the escaped occupants of the car” by the time they got to the scene of the incident.
“It is pertinent to note that the Command’s Tactical Teams have been carrying out their duty professionally, and have recorded many success stories. Until now, the Command had never received any complaint of professional misconduct against them from anybody,” he said.
“It is, therefore, sheer mischief on the part of those who took to social media to accuse the team of killing an innocent person.”
He said a manhunt had been launched for the escaped suspect while the state Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department has commenced investigation into the case.
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