Pandemonium erupted yesterday at the Makinde area of Oshodi, Lagos, as angry youths took to the streets to protest the death of their friend, who was shot dead by a policeman whose identity was yet to be ascertained.
The deceased who was identified as Rafiu Adeniji was said to have been shot dead on Sunday by a policeman attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) at the Agege area of the state.
Adeniji was said to have been shot after the Oshodi-bound commercial bus he boarded hit an RRS patrol van and the policemen engaged the bus driver in an argument.
Eyewitness account said the argument got intense and the said policeman fired into the vehicle which was fully loaded with passengers, killing Adeniji.
Although the deceased was rushed to the hospital, he gave up the ghost because the medical personnel on duty refused to treat him without a police report to back up the story of the sympathizers.
When the news of his death filtered back to his residence in Oshodi, angry youths stormed the Makinde Police Station and attempted to set it ablaze.
Their efforts were however resisted by the police who fired gun shots sporadically into the air to scare them away from the vicinity.
Eyewitness reports said the bullets hit two of the protesters and they have since been rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Confirming the incident, the state Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Chukwuma Ozoani, said he was only aware of Adeniji's death and not the subsequent protest.
He said, "The Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, has ordered a full investigation into the shooting. We want to know if the man was really shot by the police.
"If we discover it to be true, we would then go ahead to to find out who fired the shot and under what circumstances he fired the shot."
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