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Emotions
ran high at number 9, Oyebola Close, Ikorodu, Lagos on Monday after a
delegation of senior police officers visited the family home of
Timilehin Ebun, a nine-year-old boy who was killed by a police stray
bullet at the Mile 12 end of Ikorodu Road last Thursday.
The policemen, led by the Deputy
Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigation
Department, Damilola Adegbuyi, condoled with the family over the
incident.
However, the family demanded only one thing; justice.
A relative, Mr. Adebanjo Adebunmi, who
spoke amid tears, said although Timilehin could not be brought back to
life, the family was determined to pursue the case to a logical
conclusion.
He said, “We are all parents and we know
how we would feel if this happened to us. I want to assume that the
gunshot was not deliberate but the fact remains that he was shot. If he
(Timilehin) was sick and died, we would not mourn this much.
“However, he was playing game in his
father’s car and was in a happy mood when all of a sudden he was shot
dead in the presence of his parents. I believe in this country,
including the police. I know the police have problems but I still
believe justice can be done.
“However, if at the end, we do not get
justice, we shall leave it to God who is the ultimate giver of justice.
All we want for our son is justice.”
Our correspondent, observed Timilehin’s parents, Olusegun and Funke, crying intermittently.
Funke kept muttering, “Timilehin, Timilehin, oh my God!”
Olusegun told the police that he wanted
his son’s corpse released to him as soon as possible so that it could be
buried immediately.
He said the longer the corpse remained in the mortuary, the more difficult it was to get over Timilehin’s death.
Olusegun said his other son, Jide, who was inside the vehicle when Timilehin was killed, was traumatised by the incident.
He said, “I want my son’s corpse
released to me as soon as possible so that we can go on with the burial.
We had gone to pick up my son, Jide from the airport when Timilehin was
killed inside the car on our way back.
“Jide, who schools in Canada, has been
traumatised since the incident because he had always been scared of
coming to Nigeria because of security challenges. As if to prove him
right, the night he returned to the country, his younger brother was
killed by policemen in his presence.”
Olusegun said there was the need to for them have a change of orientation.
He said whenever people were killed by policemen; there was always the tendency to cover up the crime.
“I have lived in the United States, the
United Kingdom, Norway and even Canada. The way policemen behave in
those countries is nothing compared to Nigeria. Here, a policeman cocks
his gun and is ready to fire even before listening to you,” he said.
Adegbuyi, who was accompanied by the
Area H commander, Kehinde Longe; Divisional Police Officer, Ketu, Umar
Justin; Lagos State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Ngozi
Braide; and the police chaplain, Paul Omotosho, said they were sent by
the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, and the Commissioner
of Police for the state command, Umar Manko.
He said there would be no cover-up, adding that the police team accused of killing Timilehin had been transferred to the SCID.
He said, “I am sorry for what has
happened and we are also sorry for not coming here before now. The
policemen are in my custody as we speak and I promise you that no sinner
will go unpunished. We are all parents and I say that anyone who
attempts to cover this crime will also lose his or her own children.
“The DPO, Pen Cinema, who was accused of
killing a protester has been charged to court and is facing the music.
No one is above the law. On behalf of the IG, I promise you that justice
will be done.”
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