Christopher Olatunde, the pastor who witnessed the December 2009 shooting that led to the eventual dismissal of Samuel Ojo, a now deceased sergeant of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), has narrated his experience.
FIJ earlier reported how Sergeant Ojo’s world crashed on December 28, 2009, while he was attached to Morogbo Police Station in Badagry, Lagos State.
On official duty to effect an arrest with five other policemen at Ibiye Bus Stop axis on that day, a thug shot at Ojo, missing and hitting the pastor, who was passing by.
FIJ gathered that when the thug fired a second shot at Ojo, the sergeant returned fire, a move that killed the thug. He was subsequently summoned for questioning and detained at Panti prison for murder.
READ MORE: Lagos Sergeant Was Convinced Police Handed Him Unfair Dismissal. 15 Years Later, He Died Waiting for Justice
In 2010, following police investigations that deemed him not guilty of murder after six months in detention, Ojo was suspended from the police force.
In the years that followed, he sought reinstatement, appealed the decision that led to his dismissal and battled dementia with his wife and children left to shoulder the responsibilities of care and survival.
Ojo died 15 years later on July 27, waiting for justice.
Some concerned members of Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network Lagos, who took it upon themselves to pursue justice for the family after Ojo’s demise, interviewed Pastor Olatunde on Tuesday.
In a video recording of the interview obtained by FIJ, the pastor, now retired and in his 90s, recalled how he was in the area on that fateful day for a meeting.
“After disembarking from a motorcycle, I noticed that people were running up and down. Area boys were attacking police officers, and then a bullet hit me from the right direction. As the bullet hit me, Mr Ojo tried to rescue me,” the pastor disclosed.
“Then one of the area boys who fired the shot wanted to run away, and they gunned him down in my presence.
“After the shooting, the police took me to a nearby hospital, but there was no doctor to attend to me. Then they wanted to take me to a hospital in Badagry, but one of them said I might die before they get there, so they took me to a police hospital instead.
READ ALSO: ‘Izuchukwu Akali Has Been Killed’ — NAF Rocked By Suspicious Death of Officer Shortly Before Foreign Trip
“That was where I received treatment. After some weeks, I was invited to Panti for questioning, and I explained that Sergeant Ojo was not the one who fired the shot that hit me. I told them he was even trying to help me at the time.
“The sergeant was detained in Panti at the time. When I heard that the sergeant was dismissed, I felt really bad because he did nothing wrong.”
Ojo believed the police force dismissed him unjustly. The force failed to offer Ojo redress for more than a decade.
The post Witness Narrates 2009 Shooting that Ended Career of Lagos Sergeant Who Died Waiting for Justice appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.