A 38 year-old father of three, Abiodun Jimoh, died after he was shot, on Friday, by a policeman attached to the Elelenwo police station in Rivers state.
Confirming the report, the Rivers state commissioner of police, Joseph Mukan, said the officer had shot Jimoh “without justification.”
The police sergeant who shot Abiodun Jimoh is yet to be named by the police authorities.
Recall that a policeman also killed a 20-year-old upcoming musician in same Elelenwo area in September; a tricycle rider was also killed by another policeman in the Rukpokwu area of Port Harcourt in early December, 2020.
Late Abiodun Jimoh was shot at the entrance of Elelenwo Police Divisional Office by the sergeant where a patrol team of the division had dragged him along with Ismaheel, his sibling, after arresting them on a bike they were riding.
Ismaheel, a phone and laptops repairer, with the late brother, who hails from Kwara State, said: “On Friday night I was coming with my brother when Police stopped us with a patrol van. They searched us, saw our ID cards. When they saw nothing implicating, one of the senior officers told a restless junior officer to leave us.
The police discharged Ismaheel and Abiodun asking them to return the following day with the documents of the motorbike to clear doubts before the sergeant shot Abiodun and another police officer.
Ismaheel said they the killer-officer, who was visibly drunk refused them leaving the premises in a brawl which ended with the shooting of Abiodun in the leg and another police officer.
Ismaheel said delays in taking Abiodun to the hospitals led to him losing a lot of blood and subsequently died at the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital in Port harcourt.
Narrating to Vanguard Newspaper, he said:
“I rode in front with the officer riding with me and the rest of the patrol team were coming behind with my brother. The edgy officer, who was on the bike with me started asking how much we have to bail ourselves. “
“I told him I have N2,000. We got to School Road at Elelenwo, they asked me to drive into the Police station. I got there and parked. The senior officer returned our phones they earlier seized and asked me to go home and bring documents of my bike the next day. I agreed.
“The drunken police that shot my brother insisted he must do something bad to us. Again the senior officer still told him to leave us alone and that we should report back the next day with the bike’s documents. “Immediately he started beating me, hitting me with the butt of his rifle. Other colleagues pleaded with him, he won’t listen. Before I knew it, I heard gunshots.
“I saw my brother lying down in pains. I heard two gunshots. One met my brother on the leg and the other hit one of the policemen. That was when the senior officer took the gun from him. “He was still struggling with me but I forced my way to meet my brother. After rushing him to three hospitals without attention in a bid to safe his life, I told them to take him to the hospital he registered for medical care.
Abiodun was said to have died later at the hospital. He is survived by a wife and three children among other relatives.
