The Nigerian police has been accused of killing two teenagers in Lajolo community in Ilorin East local government area of Kwara State in an early morning raid on Saturday, January 29 2021.
According to eyewitness the operatives stormed the community around 6:00 am in gestapo style with an 18 seater hummer bus, breaking down doors of students still sleeping.
Our correspondent who visited the community reports that the victims were Fatai Jamiu an18 years old carpenter apprentice, who died at the the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital and one Shaobana Abdulrasheed who was taken away after being shot by the operatives. Rasheed Imam who is the elder brother of Jamiu said the security operatives were in the community last week to arrest some people for crimes that were not known, he stated they started shooting sporadically in the air and the bullet met Jamiu where he was standing and as he tried to run he was shot the second time in his back.
The Mogaji Lajolo, Alhaji Issa Alao said the activities of the security agencies in the area has become worrisome in recent times as they have turned crime fighting into a weekly business venture.He stated that if such operations is to be carried out in a community, the community head should be informed of such operations rather than coming into the community to bring sorrows to the victims families.
It was also gathered that a student of Kwara Polytechnic was shot and he is presently in the hospital fighting for his life, while the arrested seven male students.Meanwhile, the Kwara State Police Command, while reacting to the incident, in a statement signed by the Spokesperson of the Command, SP Okasanmi Ajayi, stated that STS operatives were in the community to arrest some cultists.
The statement recalled that, Four alleged cultists were arrested yesterday for killing a student of the Kwara State University. He stated that Information available to the police indicated that some of the cultists were hiding at Lajolo area of Kwara Polytechnic Ilorin, where similar attack was unleashed on one student early this morning.
He said the students in the imbroglio came out in their numbers to block the access road to the community thereby preventing free flow of traffic.
In a related development, the management of the Kwara State Polytechnic has announced the rescheduling of an examinations earlier slated for today, as result of chaos that happened at the school gate.
The rescheduling of the examinations was disclosed in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the institution, Abdulkadir Yunus, and made available to newsmen in Ilorin.
The statement said the Polytechnic has magnanimously accepted the plea of the students who could not make it to the campus before the blockage at Oyun, to reschedule their examinations on another date to be communicated to them via their heads of the department.
However, the Kwara State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Senior Ibrahim Sulyman has enjoined the students and the general public to go about their normal activities, as the incident has been brought under control.
In a statement by the Press Secretary Ministry of Tertiary Education Adamu Mohammed Saidu, quoting the Commissioner said some students who sustained injuries have been taken to the hospital and are now responding to treatment.
Sulyman assured the students and the general public of the state government’s commitment to ensuring a thorough investigation of the immediate and remote causes of the incident, with a view to preferring a lasting solution to it.
He warned that the state government will not take it lightly with anyone that is found disturbing the peace of the state, no matter how highly placed.