#EndSARS: Family accuses police of shooting man, ‘seizing’ body

The family of Adeshina Adeosun have approached the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Tuesday, to narrate how the police shot the man and took his body away.

Mr Adeosun, 60, was shot by officers of the Nigerian Police Force, Olosan Division on October 20, 2020, the wife and daughter narrated.

Kudirat and Funmilayo Adeosun, the deceased’s wife and last child respectively, testified before the panel. Miss Adeosun said she witnessed the shooting.

Miss Adeosun told the panel that her father worked as a taxi driver at Amu car, Amu Plank Market.

She said when her father was not working, he spent time at a vulcaniser’s place at Fanmilk bus, Mushin, Agege motor road.

“On October 20, 2020, my father was at Fanmilk junction, then I took my child to greet because he likes the child and plays with him.

“He sent me food, after eating, he told me to return the plate. After then, he told me to come and carry my child and go. He did not take the child the back from me,” she said.

Miss Adeosun said when she left her father, she met her friend down the street and while they were talking, they saw some boys running and heard a gunshot.

“I gave my child to my friend and started running back to Fanmilk shouting that my father was there.”

She said while approaching Fanmilk at Mushin, she saw her father running towards her ”and police officers from Olosan also running and shooting”.

“The policemen shot a bullet which hit my father from the back and came out at the front. He fell down, he was still alive.

“Some boys wanted to rescue him but because the police were still running and shooting, no one could wait,” she said.

The victim’s daughter narrated that some of the people around advised her to approach the officers and beg them ”since she is a female, so they could allow them carry the injured person to the hospital”.

“I knelt down and crawled towards them with my hands up that I am innocent. The officers allowed me to pass, then I saw my father where he was lying down, they guarded him with wheelbarrows.”

She said when she saw him, she started shouting for help, ”but one of the officers cocked his gun threatening to kill her”.

“I ran to the nearby street,” Miss Adeosun said.

She identified some of the officers, the DPO of Olosan popularly called Gbakoje, and two other police officers, named ‘Oosa’ and Abey.

She said her father, who was shot around 12 p.m., was still lying on the ground at 4 p.m. She said when the police saw that a lot of people had begun to beg to take him, they dragged him towards their station.

“He (her father) was waving at us, that was the last day I saw him,” Miss Adeosun said.

Miss Adeosun said family members made attempts to go to the police station the next day ”but the police mounted roadblocks, chasing passersby away”.

ALSO READ: VIDEO: Police officers filmed flogging Aba resident with machete

She said after one week, she met with an officer she knew and told him about the incident.

“He told me he was not around on that day, then when we were still talking, Abey came and he asked him.

“Abey said he didn’t know I am the daughter of Eko (her father’s nickname) and that he is at the mortuary but he does not know the mortuary.”

Miss Adeosun said ”while she sees Abey and Oosa frequently at Olosan station, the DPO has not been seen in the area since then”.

Mrs Adeosun, the wife of the deceased, also narrated how she was called from the market that her husband had been shot.

“I went to LUTH, and Isolo, maybe I will see his body at the mortuary, they said they did not bring any dead person.”

The family prayed the panel to help them get the corpse. They also asked the panel to compensate them for the loss.