Musa Jibril and Chioma Igbokwe
“How does his case concern you? Do you want to die for him? I will shoot you!”
That was the threat from one of the gun-toting policemen to the gathering watching them take a young man away in a commercial bus. Minutes after his rants, he actually discharged three shots. One into the air, two straight at the crowd. He quickly closed the door and the bus zoomed off with their captive.
It took seconds before the damage done registered, that the bullets discharged by the trigger-happy cop had buried themselves in a human body, the victim, hit in his genitals. In seconds, he was bleeding, his clothes turning crimson with blood. With the juice of life draining out of him, he slumped. He would die on the way to the hospital, another casualty of police brutality.
His death, however, triggered another furore in Lagos State, the ripples spreading across the country and turning a national outrage. Students and alumni of the University of Benin, the victim’s Alma Mater, staged a public protest to denounce the systematic police brutality. Twitter went livid and social media rallied again. The issue found its way into global attention via a CNN reportage and President Muhammadu Buhari issued a statement that those responsible be held accountable. Unprecedentedly, the police authority had paraded the rogue cops and subsequently dismissed the police inspector who fired the lethal shots .
The Kolade Johnson tragedy had once again reinvigorated public’s call for end to police harassments and impunity, and like the fury that drove the #ENDSARS campaign months ago, the backlash against the anti-cultism police unit was fiery.
Saturday Sun put together a whole picture of the tragedy of that Black Sunday when a young life was cut down in his prime and a promising talent was wasted.
Killed in his prime
No. 1 Beco Street, inside the Onipetesi Community. Until his death, that was where the victim, Kolade Johnson, lived with his sister, Mrs Toluwani Lukman, a caterer. But No. 1 Aboderin Street, at Mangoro bus stop, was the killing ground, where his life was snuffed by police’s bullets. A few metres to the left of the filling station, the ground was a patch of brown ochre where his blood had soaked into the sand.
Three days after the tragedy, bleary-eyed relatives were overwhelmed with visitors on condolence visits. “Please I am tired we have been granting interviews all day,” said the woman who went on to disclose, “He is my brother. We lived together and we were very close.”
That was the introduction to Mrs Toluwani Lukman, who gave Saturday Sun the minutiae of the last hours of his life.
“On that Sunday Morning, we went out together to get something from across the expressway. He walked with me there and back. When we came back, I cooked. He liked beans. There was a chair out there, he sat there and ate his food. Because there was no light, when it was time for him to go and watch football, he went out. He usually walked to the junction at the filling station. There is an eatery there, they like to stay together there and watch football matches. But barely an hour later, I was still sitting there when somebody rushed in to break the news that my brother had been shot in the leg. That sound strange to me––someone who just left here a short while ago? By the time I got there, they said his friends had already rushed him to the General Hospital. Getting to the hospital, I met his dead body. He didn’t make it. I couldn’t even look at his dead body.”
Pablo––real name Ola––is the person in whose arms Kolade died. He was at Kingstine-Jo restaurant, worn out, after returning from the police station.
He hadn’t successfully shaken off the trauma of the tragedy. On that fateful day, in a time span of nine hours, he experienced a sharp vicissitude: One moment, he was with his friend having a jolly good time––drinking and cheering their favourite Premier League team––; the next moment, the friend was shot and bleeding, his life fast ebbing; and in the next few minutes, the fellow was gone and his corpse had to be deposited in the morgue.
Here is Pablo’s recount of the young man’s last hours on earth.
“On that Sunday, we were watching the Liverpool-Tottenham match. One of our friends was having his birthday. He called me. We came out and settled down at the joint and ordered our drinks, preparing for the Liverpool match that would kick off as soon as the Chelsea match ended. The kick-off was 4:30 pm. The tragedy happened before 4:35 pm.”
He continued: “As we watch the game, a friend of ours, whose name is Ismail, passed by and waved at us. He was escorting his girlfriend to the bus stop. A few minutes later, the girl burst into the hall, hysterical and incoherent. We rushed out in time to see Ismail being bundled into a commercial bus by three armed men. We at first didn’t make sense of the situation until one of the men came down from the bus and we saw the logo on his t-shirt, that they were anti-cultism policemen. “Are you the one that want to die for him?” he shouted. He went back in and the vehicle started but stopped and parked. The same man came down. He said “I will shoot you,” and in the twinkle of an eye, he shot into the air. His next shot was straight at us. He closed the door and the bus sped away, just as Kolade screamed, “it seems the bullet hit me in my private parts”.”
Kolade wouldn’t have died if they had been able to get him to the hospital on time, Pablo asserted.
“Look, that is a taxi park close by, just a few metres from where he was shot. We begged the drivers, including their vice chairman who was around, to assist us to convey him to the hospital, but they would not budge. By this time, he has slumped and was bleeding seriously. Yet they were not moved. We were helpless until a vehicle coming out from the estate offered to help us. Myself and a second person took him to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH. On the way his body was still jerking in the car, that gave us hope. But on getting to the hospital, no one attended to us. As I was shouting, a woman came out, touched the body and went inside again. I was shocked that they did not respond, as you would expect during an emergency situation. We were abandoned. The other person with me went into the ward and all they did was to ask him long questions. Eventually, one medical personnel came out, just checked his pulse and declared him DOA.”
Pablo insisted: “Three shots were fired: one into the air, two directly at the crowd––it wasn’t a case of stray bullets.”
His life and his ambition
What kind of a person is he? It is a question that can only be answered by the woman who raised him. “He is quite ‘domesticated.’ He helped raise my children, bathed them, cared for them, I mean, I can’t remember the last time I did certain chores, and for example, my children are in boarding school, the last-born who is at home is very much attached to him. The boy wouldn’t let me look at his homework. If I ask, have you done your assignment, he would say’ “I am waiting for Uncle Kay, when Uncle Kay comes back he will help me out.” Toluwani Lukman explained.
According to her, the family is from Abeokuta, Ogun State.
“He is the last born of my mum. Our father is late,” she continued. “The person he calls daddy is my husband. Kolade had been staying with us since when he was a child, so he was like my first-born. I raised him and from this house, he got admission into UNIBEN, he graduated and went to South Africa where he lived for five years.”
She spoke of his ambition; “He really wanted to be a musician. He was working on a collaboration with Dagrin before his death, and that tragedy really affected him.”
She disclosed that the deceased has a young son by a South African mother. He also had a fiancée in Nigeria. Was marriage on the table before his death? “Kolade is someone who doesn’t rush things. About marriage, he believed it has to be planned. He believes a man ought to have a secure livelihood before dabbling into marriage,” was her explanation.
How old was he?
She shook her head in grief. “Just 36. Won o ję kogbe oun rere se”––they did not allow him to flourish.”
The profile was further broadened by Pablo: “He is already into music. His ambition is to make it big in the music industry. A friend of his, who is a music video producer that lives in Omole Estate, was always inviting him whenever he had a video shoot. So, he was always calling to tell me, “Pablo, I am going away to a video shoot.” The friend loved to have him around to tap from his creativity as per music video.”
The portrait is simple. Easy-going and jovial according to Pablo’s description. “He is our regular customer. He usually come here. And he is a nice and decent fellow,” said the manager of the Kingstine-Jo joint.
He was not a cultist. Neither was he a Yahoo boy.
“Ours is a peaceful neighbourhood. We don’t have cultists here or cultism related issues,” Mrs Lukman insisted.
That raised the question: Why were the rogue policemen after Ismail?
Because of his dreadlocks, which in the book of anti-cultism cops, is a feature of a cultist. “But,” Pablo pointed out, “Ismail worked with video director and a music video production outfit”––in other words, his outlook goes with the territory.
The difficult phase
The bereaved family is trying to cope with the tragedy.
Lukman said: “Up till now I still don’t want to believe he is dead. Now, I am wondering, how do I explain to my son what happened? He is nine years old and doesn’t yet understand what has happened. He has not been eating.” Of their mother, she gave an insight: “Our mum is upstairs, she has been complaining of a nagging headache, so we gave her drugs so she can sleep. Intermittently, she asks: Where is Kolade?”
Strong police response
The first indication that the Police authority will not sweep the incident under the carpet was the parade of the suspects. Such a parade, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Bala Elkana, Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, “is not a usual practice, only on rare occasions.”
Three days after the shooting, the men were paraded and interviewed by journalists. According to Elkana: “By Thursday, April 4, the Orderly Room Trial, started on Monday, April 1, was concluded and the two police officers handed over to Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Panti, for prosecution, to be tried on a three-count charge of Discreditable Conduct, Unlawful and Unnecessary exercise of authority and damage to clothing and other articles “contrary to Paragraph (iii), Q (ii) and D (i) First Schedule, Police Act and Regulations, Cap 370 LFN 1990.”
The details as provided in a statement by DSP Elkana: “The Trial started with the reading of charges and taking of plea. Five witnesses testified. At the conclusion of the trial, the first defaulter, Inspector Ogunyemi Olalekan was found guilty of discreditable conduct by acting in a manner prejudicial to discipline and unbecoming of members of the Force by shooting and killing Kolade Johnson; Unlawful and Unnecessary exercise of authority by using unnecessary violence, by using AK 47 rifle on the deceased in total neglect to the provisions of Force Order 237 on the use of Firearms. The Adjudicating Officer, CSP Indyar Apev awarded the punishment of dismissal from service and prosecution to the First defaulter. There was no evidence linking the second defaulter, Sergeant Godwin Orji to the shooting, he was, therefore, found not guilty and discharged and acquitted. The First defaulter, Inspector Ogunyemi Olalekan is handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department, Panti for prosecution in conventional Court.
Condemning the policemen’s harassment of youths sporting dreadlocks, Elkana stated: “ It is not a criminal offence to wear dreadlocks or have a tattoo on your body. We have summoned the whole commanders and warned that this act must stop. We will not tolerate it. We will make available more lines for Nigerians to call in if any policeman anywhere harasses you because of dreadlocks or tattoo.”
He affirmed that police work is now intelligence driven. “You don’t go about arresting people indiscriminately. Let the intelligence department do their undercover assignment; once we have enough evidence against an individual or group, we will plan an operation.”
He further clarified that the department involved in the incident was not the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) but Anti-Cultism.
“They are not under SARS, they are independent,” he confirmed. “People assume that everyone carrying gun out there is a member of SARS, they are not fully aware of Anti-cultism. Anti-Cultism is under the state command, they are peculiar to states that have cultism, it is not a nationwide thing. The fact remains that the state Anti Cultism section has been doing well before this unfortunate incident.”
He also disclosed the fallout of the March 31 tragedy.
“The head of anti-cultism squad has been removed and his team recalled back to the state command. We are going to screen them and fish out those who are not supposed to be part of them; only those who are fit will be retained. After the screening, they are not allowed to enter the field until we have enough intelligence about an arrest before they will be sent out.”
The commander was removed, according to him, “because he does not have control over of his men.”
Strong public criticisms
Activist lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa believed “what you have seen in Kolade issue is the microcosm of the oppression Nigerians are going through. These constant clashes will go on until we address fundamental right.” The family should be compensated by the police and the police officers involved must be arraigned in court and prosecuted, he advocated.
Former Commissioner of Police Abubakar Tsav also sang the same tune: “The Nigerian police should suspend the two men from police and let them face criminal charges.”
Tsav, a commissioner in the Public Complaint Commission, Abuja avowed policemen “can carry their guns when they are going for operation but when they are not, it is wrong for them to carry ammunition because our police are not well trained on how to carry guns.”
Tsav is confident the family will get justice.
“They only thing they need to do is that the family should look for good lawyers that have deep knowledge of criminal case––and they need to keep their witnesses. I believe in Nigeria, two or three lawyers will come up and pick the case pro bono,” he said.
Court remands killer cop in prison
An Ebute Meta Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Friday ordered the remand of Olalekan Ogunyemi, ex-police inspector charged with murdering 36-year-old Kolade Johnson.
The magistrate, Mrs A.O. Salawu, ordered that Ogunyemi, be remanded at Ikoyi Prisons, pending advice from State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Kehinde Olatunde, had told the court that the defendant committed the offence on March 31, at 5.10p.m., at Onipetesi Estate, Idi-Mangoro, Lagos.
Ogunyemi, 45, who resides at No. 17, Alhaji Ede St., Igando, was docked on a count charge of murder. He said that Ogunyemi used his Ak47 rifle to gun down Kolade Johnson. The prosecutor said that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
Section 223 stipulates a death sentence if convicted. Olatunde, informed the court that he had an application for a remand order to keep the defendant for the next 30 days. The plea of the defendant was not taken by the court.
Counsel to the defendant, Sola Adeyemi, had urged the court to instead remand the defendant for the next 14 days as against the application of the prosecutor.
Magistrate Salawu granted the application of the prosecutor and ordered 30 days remand and adjourned the case until May 6.