By OLUWATOYIN MALIK

Two men were shot dead by officers of Amotekun Corps at Oke-Ado area of Ibadan, Oyo State, in the early hours of Tuesday while one other sustained a gunshot injury.

The deceased persons were identified as Ishola Abdullahi and Rasheed Mudashiru, while the name of the injured was given as Alaba Isah.

Narrating the incident to the Nigerian Tribune, Ibrahim, the younger brother of Abdullahi, said youths in the neighborhood decided to come together at Ajanla area, close to Liberty Stadium junction, to mark the eve of Sallah celebration.

“We had a Disc Jockey (DJ) playing music while we were having fun. When the petrol in the generator we were using was exhausted, we tried to get a refill to buy. In the process, my brother, Abdullahi who was sleeping, woke up and followed us to the gathering. Not up to five minutes after, the Amotekun operatives came and started shooting from the back of the patrol van which brought them.

“There was no quarrel or fight. We were all young men in the neighbourhood just enjoying Sallah eve. Soldiers and police passed by and greeted us. The Amotekun van approached from Liberty Stadium junction on the J-Allen/Molete Road. All of us went in different directions when we heard the shooting.

“By the time we came out when the gunshots had subsided, we saw the body of Rasheed, who had died on the spot. We didn’t see my brother in good time until we went to a street in search of him.

“We saw him shot at the back and took him to a native doctor to extract the pellets but it did not work out because they had stayed long in his body.”

Also speaking, Abdullahi’s half brother, who was acting as a father to him because of age difference, Alhaji Olayiwola Sulu Ishola, a.k.a. Alhaji Salala, said: “Abdullahi was like my son as he was my half brother from my father’s last wife.

“I was not around but was called on phone that Amotekun shot him and two others before fleeing the scene.

“Boys in our neighbourhood were celebrating Sallah eve and enjoying themselves with music, drinks and fun. They said even the Operation Burst personnel and the police passed by and waved at them, but on the arrival of Amotekun officials, they started shooting.

“Immediately the boys heard the gunshots, they started running to avoid being hit. That was how my blood relation and one other person were killed, while a third person sustained gunshot injuries.”

He said that Abdullahi and the other deceased person, Rasheed, had been buried by their families according to Islamic rites, while the third person was taken to a native doctor to extract pellets from his arm and thigh. Abdullahi, aged 25, had a child before his death. Also narrating his experience, Isah, also aged 25, told Nigerian Tribune that the incident occurred at about 3:00 a.m.

“We were at a party at Ajanla, making merry when Amotekun operatives came and started shooting. I had my back towards them. We scampered into safety but I felt my arm being weak, not knowing that pellets had penetrated it. My thigh was also hit. I was taken to a place to extract the bullets locally,” he stated.

However, when contacted, the Ibadan South West Local Government Area coordinator of Amotekun, Sikiru Apanpa, told Nigerian Tribune that the operatives responded to gunshots received from the group members who also threw bottles at them when they were sighted.

Apanpa also said that the incident occurred at Liberty Stadium junction, not Ajanla area as narrated by the group members.

According to him, the Amotekun operatives were at the junction where they met two of the group members on the road with guns. He said that on sighting the Amotekun personnel, they started shouting ‘ojo! ojo!!’, a code name given to police officers, with the thought that the Amotekun van was that of police since the headlights were switched off.

“Others came from the dark and started shooting at us, as well as throwing bottles, which made us to respond.

“Some Amotekun Corps members had been killed during such incidents so that made us to be on alert.

“We were at Foko area and we saw those holding party there, and we passed by without any trouble. We had an issue with someone who fired a shot and seized his gun. But we returned the gun when the community told us that he was a security guard.

“We were also at Ring Road and saw another party going on; there was no trouble. Why would we counter-attack those at Liberty Stadium junction if we were not attacked? The incident occurred at Liberty junction, not Ajanla area,” the coordinator explained. (Nigerian Tribune)

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