ABEOKUTA – The police say they are on the trail of a yet-to-be-identified non-commissioned officer of the Nigerian Navy over extra-judicial killing.
The naval rating is said to have shot and killed a man over N200 toll fee on Saturday at the popular Kara market along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in South-west Nigeria.
An eyewitness told Channels Television that the military man had threatened to kill the victim if moved and he made good his promise.
The Commissioner of Police in Ogun State, Mr Kenneth Ebrimson, confirmed the incident to Channels Television in a telephone interview.
He explained that men of the Ogun State Police Command were immediately drafted to the market to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
“When I got the distress call, I had to mobilise my available men to ensure that there is no reprisal.
“I have contacted the military authorities to trace the actual identity of the military officers involved and I was told that the military officers came there at the instance of the security of the market,” Ebrimson said.
He added that the police have begun investigations into the incident with a view to bringing the culprit to book while the remains of the victim have been deposited at a morgue in Sagamu.
The police commissioner decried that it was the second time in the less than five months that the military personnel deployed in the market were accused of extra-judicial killings.
The first was during the Isheri Day celebration which held in August at the Isheri Olofin town – located adjacent the Kara market – where three people were alleged to have been killed by soldiers while the investigation into the matter has yet to be concluded.
Ebrimson described Saturday’s incident as “a very sad event” and called on the military authorities to put measures in place to prevent a reoccurrence.
He condemned the deployment of soldiers in the market, stressing that no security situation in the area was beyond what the police could handle.
The police commissioner said, “I don’t know the reason for deploying soldiers into Kara market. We have the Ibafo Police Station, Ojodu Abiodun Police Station; we have Mowe Police State.
“So, I don’t see any security challenge in that axis that we cannot contain. What we are trying to do now is to actually identify the soldiers that were deployed there, whether legally of illegally so that they can account for their misdeed.” (Channels TV)
