The relatives of Ayomide Taiwo, a 20-year-old tailor killed in Iragbiji, Boripe Local Government Area (LGA) of Osun State in Southwest Nigeria, have demanded justice.
Ayomide who enrolled as an apprentice with a fashion designer in 2016 graduated in 2019. In a bid to make money for his graduation ceremony billed for Sept. 10, 2020, he embarked on petty sewing.
He was, however attacked on Aug. 3, 2020, in Iragbiji while returning to his place of work at Owena after celebrating the Islamic festival, Eid-el-Kabir, with his mother.
As if Ayomide’s mother had a premonition before he left the house, she gave ten N50 notes (N500) to her son to give to police officers at different checkpoints. She also warned him against any altercation with them.
On getting to Ere junction, four officers attached to Obokun Divisional Police Headquarters stopped Ayomide. In the blink of an eye, an inspector with the name Ago Egharevba, hit Ayomide with the butt of his rifle.
The deceased’s friend who spoke with BattaFiles under the condition of anonymity said the police officers tried running but were apprehended by passers-by.
Soon, blood began to gush out profusely from Ayomide’s nose.
“I met him in a pool of blood,” the mother recalled. She said her son was thereafter taken to Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH) in Osogbo, capital of the state, where he was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital,” Ayomide’s mother, Yemisi told our reporter.
Ayomide spent six days in a coma until he eventually passed away on August 9, 2020.
Before he was pronounced dead at the hospital, Yemisi sold her two farms for N350,000 and took loans to ensure her son beat death but the latter won.
“I doubt if I will recover from the grief.”
Throughout this period, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Obokun Police Station simply identified as Atanda came to the hospital with N30,000 and never returned.
“Three years after my son had died, we cannot bury him because we are yet to get his remains out of the mortuary.”
Although former Commissioner of Police in Osun, Undie Adie, recommended the dismissal of the policeman who attacked Ayomide, to the Inspector General of Police, he is yet to he dismissed.
A Magistrate Court in Obokun, on Aug. 17, remanded the Policeman for the killing which the prosecution said is contrary to and punishable under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Cap. 34 Vol. Il Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2002.
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Magistrate B.O. Awosan remanded the accused in Ilesa Correctional Centre and the matter, according to the deceased’s family, continues to suffer endless adjournment.
The state Police spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, did not respond to calls and text messages seeking update on the matter.
As the relatives of the victims continue to demand justice, BattaFiles discovered that the Police do not have any policy of compensation for families of victims of extrajudicial killings.
The only reward victims get is dismissal. A lawyer and human rights activist, Tunde Adejobi, said Ayomide’s killing is an aberration under the Nigerian constitutional jurisprudence.
“Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees the right to life of every human and taking it away in such a manner is the highest encroachment on human rights,” he said.
