A mother has insisted that the police killed her daughter during the Yoruba Nation rally in Lagos, despite the police denying this.
The mother of Jumoke Oyeleke, the salesgirl who was allegedly killed by a stray bullet during the Yoruba Nation rally in Lagos on Saturday, June 3, is demanding justice for her daughter.
It was reported on Saturday that agitators for the Yoruba Nation gathered at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in the Ojota area for a protest.
During the rally, police allegedly fired gunshots, tear gas canisters and cannon water to disperse the protesters and Jumoke, who was displaying drinks at her boss’ shop in a compound close to the rally ground, was allegedly hit by a stray bullet.
The Lagos state police command later released a statement denying reports that a stray bullet killed a lady.
The spokesperson of the state police command, CSP Ademuyiwa Adejobi, said the report is false and is a calculated attempt to cause confusion and fear in the state. He said no live bullet was fired while the police dispersed the protesters.
However, Ifeoluwa, the mother of the victim, said to be 25 not 14 years old as widely reported, has emerged to claim her daughter was killed by the police.
“I was not at home when the incident happened yesterday (Saturday). I went to work in Ikeja and was called to start coming home. When I got home, I was told that the bullets shot by the police killed my daughter,” Ifeoluwa told Punch on Sunday, July 4.
She continued: “We immediately went to Area H Police Command in Ogudu and they started threatening us that if we stayed long at their entrance, they would shoot us. It was when they saw that we would not retreat that they invited my brothers inside. I have not seen her corpse since yesterday. The police at Area H said it’s not in their custody, that we should go to other stations to check.
“I want the police to release the corpse for burial because we don’t know where they dropped her. The police should speak the truth because she was killed by a bullet. The police lied that it was an abandoned corpse; we both left home around 7.30am yesterday to our different destinations.
“Jumoke is my first child and she was a very healthy and good child; a very hard-working girl that won’t complain if you ask her to do anything. She said she wanted to save money from the job she was doing so she could own her shop and become a better person in life, but that dream has been cut short now.
“I want the state government to fight for me and render whatever help they can to me. It has not been easy since yesterday; it has affected me in every way because she’s the one helping to cater for her siblings.”
Jumoke’s uncle, Wasiu Afolabi, told Punch that the family got to know about the incident through social media.
He said, “When we got to the police station, they didn’t allow us to enter until we started shouting, then they allowed two people to enter. When we entered, we met the DCO and he said he was not around when the incident happened, but asked us to go to the counter to drop our information and that they would get back to us. But my younger ones were not having it at all, so the area commander requested to see us and when we entered, he sympathised with us and said he heard that the bullet police shot hit the girl.
“He asked us to be patient so that the police could remove the bullet in her body and test it to know if it was from their station or other stations and he collected our details and said he would get back to us. About 30 minutes later when we got home, the area commander and the DPO came to visit the mother of the victim.
“What we heard now is that the police are saying it was not a bullet that killed her, but that she was stabbed. The woman that they were running together confirmed that she was beside her when the bullet pierced her and she fell on the ground. We want justice.”