Facts have emerged on the death of a young lawyer, Mrs. Bolanle Raheem, killed by ASP Drambi Vandi, an officer attached to Ajiwe Police Station in the Ajah area of Lagos on Christmas day.
The trigger-happy police officer, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, had shot at the lawyer while on a patrol on Sunday.
It was learnt that Bolanle was in the car with her husband, elder sister, and her five children. Her sister and her children had come to pay a visit and to spend Christmas with her.
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It was gathered that the incident happened while the family was on their way to get pizza and not from church service as earlier reported. FT also gathered from family sources that Bolanle was pregnant at the time she was killed.
Police sources revealed that the errant policeman claimed that he shot at the lawyer because the car the family was in at the time of the incident had a foreign number.
It was further gathered that the police commissioner in Lagos State command was furious about the ASP’s action, saying it was uncalled for.
The errant policeman has since been arrested and detained according to a statement by the Lagos State Police Command.
The Command’s spokesman, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said, “On the instruction of the Commissioner of Police, the errant officer has since been taken into custody alongside his team members.
“The CP has equally directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba for in-depth investigation.
“This has become one too many, especially bearing in mind that a similar incident occurred at the same location less than three weeks ago. The condemnable incident is against the standard operating procedures (SOP) and rules of engagement of the Force, and to say the least, is embarrassing.”
The police spokesman described as embarrassing, the incident, being the second in three weeks. A resident of Happy Land estate in Ajah, Gafaru Buraimoh, was similarly shot dead by a policeman on December 6, 2022.
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Hundeyin said the Nigeria Police Force will carry out a reappraisal of its rules of engagement in a bid to put an end to such avoidable ugly incidents.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Abiodun Alabi, has promised the alumni body of Olabisi Onabanjo University law faculty that the case would be properly handled and that justice would be served.
