SAGAMU PROTESTS DEATH OF FOOTBALL STAR: THREE KILLED, MANY INJURED

SARS officer faces dismissal as IG orders probe

Protests staged by grieving men, women and youths in Sagamu, Ogun State, over the death of a Remo Stars Football Club player, Kazeem Tiamiyu, aka Kaka, have led to the death of two persons, while several others sustained varying degrees of injury.

Tiamiyu and his friend had been arrested by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad on Saturday while he bought engine oil for his car at Sagamu. While taking them to a police station, the victim was allegedly pushed out of the vehicle and was crushed by an oncoming vehicle on the Abeokuta-Sagamu Expressway. He was rushed to a hospital where he was confirmed dead.

The Ogun State Police Command had issued a statement explaining that the late footballer jumped out of the moving police vehicle on his own. But the player’s teammate, Sanni Abubakar, who was with him at the time of the arrest, claimed that he was pushed out of the vehicle.

Sagamu youths took to the streets on Monday, protesting, as they demanded justice for the late defender and an end to the activities of SARS operatives in the area, chanting anti-police slogans. The group visited the palace of the Akarigbo and Paramount Ruler of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Ajayi, to express their grievances and condemn the incessant brutality and indiscriminate arrests by law enforcement agents in the town and environs.

The protest, which began peacefully, degenerated and turned bloody when the angry youths met resistance from a detachment of armed security agents drafted to stop them and engaged them. The police fired live bullets to disperse the protesting youths and, in the process, three people were hit by live bullets while the protesters charged at the armed officers.

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The PPRO disclosed that the police had completed investigation into the killing of the footballer. He claimed that only one SARS officer was involved in the incident, and added that the inspector had been tried in an orderly room and recommended for dismissal.

The spokesman of the State Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi said the command was awaiting the approval of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, Ahmed Iliyasu. He said, “We have already investigated the man and tried him. We have also recommended him for dismissal. But being an inspector, it is not the CP that will approve it; the recommendation has been sent to the AIG Zone 2 for approval and as soon as it is approved, he will be charged to court.”

A statement by the Special Adviser on Public Communications to the governor, Remmy Hazzan, described the killing of the youth as unfortunate.

“In the first place, the extra-judicial death of any resident in Ogun State is a very painful one for the government, let alone that of a promising youth, whose death the government will leave no stone unturned to ensure justice is not only done, but also seen to have been done at the end of the day.

“There is no doubt that our youth have the right to protest the killing of the late young football star. However, what started as a legitimate peaceful protest was hijacked by criminally minded people, who turned same into a violent one.”

Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), has ordered the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) to investigate the death of the Remo Stars’ defender and assistant captain and ensure justice was done on the matter. The statement read in part: “The Inspector General of Police, IGP M. A. Adamu, has ordered the Deputy In­spector General of Police in-charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department, DIG Anthony Ogbizi, to, with immediate effect, take over investigations into the circumstances surrounding the death of Late Mr. Tiamiyu Kazeem in Sagamu, Ogun State, on February 22, 2020.

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“Meanwhile, the IGP, while commiserating with the family and friends of the deceased, calls for calm and assures that justice will be done in the matter, reiterating that any person found culpable will be brought to book.”