Police opens fire on moving car, Shoots 76-year- old Man, Physically Challenged

Many Lagosians shed tears lastweek when policemen shot directly at five innocent people in a car, on Sunday, for refusing to stop their vehicle when instructed to do so. As the two gunshots rent the air, people at Mile 2 area of the metropolis scampered away on their feet for safety, while those in their different vehicles abandoned them and took to their heels.

 When the dust settled down, blood was gushing out from two of the passengers in the Honda car- Pa Elijah Ipere, 76, and the 16- year- old boy, Goddey Ekubor, alleged to be physically challenged.

LEADERSHIP Friday gathered that the people were returning from Shogunle, where they attended a family meeting when the ugly incident took place on the way to their residences at Ajegunle area, around 6.30pm.

The occupants of the vehicle were said to have escaped death by the whiskers. One of the bullets hit a 76 – year -old man identified as Elijah Ipere in the chest region and the ammunition landed in his stomach. The other bullet hit the physically challenged Ekubor, in the lap. The driver of the vehicle, Edwin Akperera, disclosed that his 3- year- old son, Isaac Akperera was also in the vehicle. 

“We were returning from a family meeting held at Shogunle, in Ikeja.I was driving a Honda car conveying all of us. We were five in number. But when we got to Mile 2, I missed my route few metres away and decided to reverse the car and link up to the service lane so that we could descend from the bridge and negotiate to Suru- Alaba- Orile road. As I was doing that, unknown to me, policemen attached to RRS (Rapid Respond Squad) had seen me. I wanted to negotiate to the service lane from the Apapa- Oshodi expressway and make a C- turn to Badagry – Orile expressway when they suddenly arrived and flagged me down but I did not stop. They mounted a motorcycle and followed me from the Jakande estate side of Mile 2 to Satelite side of Mile 2 under Satelite police station. They wanted to waylay me but when I did not stop they opened fire on us.

The bullet hit my 76 years old uncle and Goddey, a young man who is physically challenged . “Immediately they fired the shots,the policemen vanished from the scene but if I see them, I can recognize them. They were attached to the Rapid Respond Squad of the Lagos State police command. All I did was to move the vehicle to the gate of Nigeria Army Signal Barracks, Mile 2, where the soldiers on duty at the gate told me to remove the vehicle from their area because they had nothing to do with the matter.

They however advised me to drive to Layeni police station and make a report’’. Layeni police station seemed to be the closest police station from there and I obeyed. At Layeni, the police advised me not to waste more time in reporting but to move the victims to the nearest hospital to save their lives. I obeyed and moved them to a private hospital but they immediately referred me to a general hospital at Oregie, in Ajegunle. 

“The general hospital in turn referred me to the general hospital Marina street, in Lagos, where they were given first aid. After that, we moved them to a native doctor who knows how to remove bullets. You know, hospitals will prefer to operate upon somebody but the native doctors have their ways of removing bullets. “My three- year -old son, Isaac was so scared. He is still shocked over the incident. He was screaming. He had never seen such blood gushing out of people before. When I heard the shots, I never knew it was fired at us until I looked at my uncle at the front seat and saw blood gushing out of his body.

The front seat and the floor had become a pool of blood. I also screamed. I looked at my back and saw the other boy called Goddey writhing in pains. 

I wept. I cried as I prayed that nothing should happen to them. The floor of the back seat of the vehicle was full of blood. What will I tell my people? They only followed me to our family event.” he said.

 Though, this journalist was not allowed to see the victims, the native doctor who specialized in removing the ammunition, Alex Oneke said,

“God saved the two victims.They would have died. When they brought them, I examined them and removed the bullet from the stomach of the old man. He was shot close to the chest. The bullet landed inside his stomach. I have removed the bullet. The other person seemed to be an imbecile.. The bullet hit him in the lap and I have extracted it. They are resting for now. Later, they have to go and dress the wounds at any hospital,” he said. 

 On whether Oneke has the right to remove or cure people with bullet wounds, he has this to say:

“I know my work and I’m trained. I have been doing this work for a very long time. I have certificate for it. We are traditional doctors. I live at Okito Street, here in Ajegunle.” An eye witness, who identified himself as Muyiwa Ademola, told this reporter that he took to his heels when he heard gunshots close to him.

 They were deafening to his ears. “I was standing close to the Mile 2 Bridge when the police fired gunshots and I had to run for my dear life. In short, I abandoned my wife and two kids as I was escaping from the scene..

My wife sells ‘ogogoro’ (local gin) at Mile 2. People were running as fast as their legs could carry them. People were blaming me that I ran away and abandoned my wife but I told them that is how it is supposed to be in times of war. It is the survival of the fittest. Anybody the police kills is dead and dead without compensation. The police can even deny that they did not shoot anybody and that is why we have to be careful, “he said. A street urchin (agbero), who identified himself as Ade, said he wanted to collect money from a conductor of a mini- bus when he heard the gunshot and fled from the scene.