motorcyclist killed by Customs officers - Group demands justice

 

Human rights group and residents of Alagbado Area of Lagos State have urged both the Federal and Lagos State Governments to investigate alleged murder of a commercial motorcyclist, Mr. Saheed Omotosho, by some officers of Nigeria Customs Service.

The Lagos State Secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Mr. Olumuyiwa Kushimo, and the Chairman, Omikunle Community Development Area, Mr. Gbenga Solanke, jointly made the plea at a news conference on Saturday in Lagos.

Omotosho, also an auto-mobile mechanic apprentice, was allegedly shot to death on Thursday on his motorcycle by men of the NCS while pursuing fleeing smugglers.

Kushimo called on the Nigeria Police to begin investigation without delay in order to bring the killers of Omotosho to book.

He said, “The gruesome murder of an innocent citizen with promising future by men of NCS is barbaric, condemnable, a crime of the highest order and must be treated as such.

“The CDHR Lagos demands immediate investigation, arrest of all the Customs officers involved in such criminal act and subsequent prosecution thereof.

“We call on the government to ensure justice and adequate compensation of the family of the deceased by the NCS.

“We also call for an unreserved apology to the people of Alagbado and its environs for the public disorder caused by these officers.

“No Customs officer should be allowed to enter into the community inhabited by people in pursuit of smugglers without involving the Divisional Police Headquarters within the area,” Kushimo said.

The non-governmental organisation also urged Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode and the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Mudashiru Obasa, to mandate the state Ministry of Justice to ensure justice.

The human rights group also called for the immediate release of a brother to the deceased, Mr Rasheed Oyedeji detained by the NCS.

The human rights group said that Oyedeji raised alarm when his brother was shot by the officers.
He said that three vans of the men of NCS invaded Nureni Yusuf Road in pursuit of fleeing smugglers supposedly carrying contraband and engaged in sporadic gun shots that led to Omotosho’s death.