The last may not have been heard about the circumstances surrounding the death of a 25-year-old lady, Jumoke Oyeleke, who was allegedly shot during the Yoruba nation rally held on July 3, 2021, in Ojota area of Lagos, as the Lagos State Police Command, has arraigned one of the suspects arrested during the protest, Tajudeen Bakare, as the mastermind of her death.
Bakare, the popular Ogboni Chief was earlier arraigned alongside 47 protesters before a Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Yaba, for unlawful assembly and conducts likely to cause a breach of public peace. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, speaking on those arrested, said they were intercepted and found with guns, axes, Oodua flags, Yoruba Armed Forces vests and other items at the protest ground in Ojota.
The suspects include Olasunkanmi Tanimola; Kabiru Lawanson; Chinemerem Emmanuel; Rasaki Musibau; Lukman Olalade; Olasanmi Oladipupo; Bashiru Shittu; Taofeek Abdusalam; Olamilekan Abata; Abdullahi Sikiru; Tosin Adeleye; Babatunde LawalAbiodun Taiwo, Adagunodo Babatunde, Oluwafemi Adeleye, Oloye Taiwo, Saheed Kareem, Adebayo Waheed, Akinbode Sunday, Lawal Akeem, Samuel Ire and Ogundile Dare.
Though the attempt by the police to stop the Yoruba nation rally had attracted criticisms from different groups who accused the Federal Government of trying to muzzle freedom of expression, security agencies led by the police suppressed the rally with the dispersal of protesters with tear gas and water cannons.
It was gathered that the 25-year-old salesgirl who met her untimely death during the protest was not part of the rally, but was hit in the back while running when the police started firing into the air.
However, the spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, immediately came out to debunk the claim that she was shot by the police during the rally, stating that the Command did not fire a single live bullet at the Ojota rally. According to him, “the corpse was found wrapped and abandoned at a distance far from Ojota venue of the rally, behind MRS Filling Station, inward Maryland, on the other side of the venue with dried blood stains suggesting that the corpse is not fresh and after a close look at the corpse, a wound suspectedly sustained from a sharp object was seen on it.”
This statement coming from Adejobi denying the police involvement in Jumoke’s death generated a lot of negative reactions from her family who described her as the financial backbone of the family who always cooked for them and saw to their needs and members of the public who blamed the police for her death.
But in order to douse tension, Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, ordered an investigation into her death with coroner’s inquest sought under sections 14 and 15 of the Coroners’ Systems Law, Laws of Lagos State 2015. A post-mortem examination was then carried out and the report revealed that she died of “hemopericardium, disruption to the heart and lungs and missile injury to the chest.”
The autopsy was carried out at the Department of Pathology and Forensic of the Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) by Dr.S.S Soyemi and the report further revealed that the 25-year-old lady died at 11:30 am on the day of the protest.
On Monday, July 26, the Lagos State Police Command, was to change the story when Chief Magistrate Adeola Adeyeye, granted bail to the other 47 arrested suspects while that of Bakare was revoked as he was charged by the police for the murder of Oyeleke.
This doublespeak on one issue by the Lagos State Police Command has left many wondering how it could turn around to contradict itself on a statement issued by the state Police Public Relations Officer.
ALSO READ: https://rulersworld.com/i-am-not-in-support-of-agitation-for-yoruba-nation-akeredolu/
