Gbenga Raheem, the husband of a female lawyer, Omobolanle, who was shot dead by an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Drambi Vandi, has narrated how his wife was killed.
Gbenga spoke on Monday when sympathisers visited his house in the Ajah area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro had exclusively reported that Omobolanle was coming from an eatery with some family members on Christmas Day and had tried to make a U-turn under the Ajah Bridge when the cop shot at her vehicle.
The 41-year-old woman was rushed to a hospital, where she was confirmed dead.
Our correspondents gathered that the woman, who had a child, was seven-month pregnant when tragedy struck.
Vandi, who was attached to the Ajiwe Police Station, Ajah, Lagos State, was said to have spent 33 years in the police force.
One of our correspondents obtained a voice recording from one of the lawyers who visited the deceased’s family.
The victim’s husband, Gbenga, said, “On December 25, my wife, nieces, nephews, and cousins, who had come for the holiday, all went to church. On our way back, my wife said since it was Christmas Day, we should take everyone out, so, we went to a supermarket at Abraham Adesanya, then to Domino’s Pizza.
“After that, we headed towards Ajah to do a U-turn to come back to Abraham Adesanya. When we took the U-turn, we saw policemen stopping some vehicles. As we approached them, they said we should stop, and in the process, we heard a loud sound on my wife’s side window. All of a sudden, I saw blood gushing out of her chest.
“I immediately ran out; my sister-in-law, who was also with us, ran out and held the policeman; he cocked his gun at her too. Talking to him was pointless, so I went to see if anything could be done; I saw my wife gasping for breath, and by that time, my sister-in-law had brought the policeman into the car and pushed him into the front seat.
“We drove to a hospital but they said they couldn’t handle it; we eventually took her to Grandville Hospital, where she was confirmed dead. The policemen took her body and put it in the truck; they wanted me to follow them but I said I needed to go and settle my children.”
PUNCH Metro gathered that Bolanle, a graduate of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, recently moved from litigation practice to property law.
She was the Chief Executive Officer of Croston Homes and co-founder, City Building, a real estate and property development company.
The deceased worshipped with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Olive Tree Parish, Banana Island, Ikoyi. Lagos, where she functioned as a Sunday school teacher.
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, in a statement on Monday by the Force spokesperson, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, ordered speedy prosecution of all the policemen involved in her killing.
Adejobi said, “The IGP, who described the incident as unfortunate and sad, has ordered speedy investigation and prosecution of the officers responsible for the ugly and unprofessional act, which doesn’t portray the Nigeria Police Standard Operating Procedure and core values.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the police would carry out a reappraisal of its rules of engagement in a bid to put an end to such avoidable incidents.
PUNCH
