A policeman, identified simply as Smart, from Ilaje Police Station, Bariga, Lagos, has allegedly killed a youth in the area following a disagreement between two rival groups over sharing of N250,000 suspected to have been collected from the owner of a newly-constructed building in the area.
The youth identified as Banji was hit by a bullet fired by the policeman.
A source said a member of one of the groups invited the policeman to mediate when tension rose on how to share the money.
It was learnt that after the tension had subsided, the policeman was offered N20,000 but he felt cheated.
The source said, “As usual, when a new house is about to be built or has been built in the area, the touts go there to collect a charge – Owo Ile- from the owner.
“So, what happened was that the house falls between the jurisdictions of two different gangs. One of the group is from Seriki Street and the other from Odunisi Street.
“A faction of the gangs having realised that they may lose out, called a policeman, popularly called Smart to support them. On his arrival, he scared the opposition group away. After they have collected the money, the policeman was given N20, 000.
“Unfortunately, one of the area boys informed him that N250,000 was collected and he ought to have been given more money.
On hearing this, he became angry and vowed to shoot if he was not given more money. Some of the area boys begged him, but he refused. Suddenly, he shot and a stray bullet killed Banji.”
He added that after the killing, the area boys decided to attack the police station to register their grievances.
“Pained by the death of Banji, the area boys mobilised to attack the police station. They would have succeeded but they were repelled by the policemen who got wind of their plan on time.
“The policemen shot two of them and they were severely injured. I don’t really know where the people injured were taken to.“
When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said she had yet to be briefed on the incident and promised to call back as soon as she had details.
However, she did not call back before this paper went to bed.
December 20, 2012 by Sodiq Oyeleke
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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