Police Trying To Hush Up Student’s Shooting – Lawyer

A lawyer, Mr. Kolawole Olaniregun, has accused the Lagos State Police Command and the management of Michael Otedola College of Primary Education, Epe, of trying to cover up the shooting of a student, Jamiu Babalola, in the school.

The lawyer, who represents Babalola, said he was surprised that instead of naming the policeman responsible for the shooting and prosecuting him, the police had been trying to hush up the act.

Babalola, a 200 level student of the institution, was shot on Monday during a protest at the college.

Olaniregun said, "I have spoken with the DPO of Epe Division of the Nigeria Police, but he has not been forthcoming about the identity of the policeman responsible. He had only told me that investigation is going on."

"The students were appealing to the college to allow those who had made half-payment to write the first semester examination," reported Olaniregun.

He said, "The school authority said they would refuse the students entry into the examination halls unless they paid in full. The students protested, and the school authorities invited the police to quell the protest.

"Policemen were deployed in the scene of the protest. A yet-to-be-identified policeman, shot at the student. The bullet hit Jamiu on the leg. He is currently in a critical condition at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital."

Babalola, 20, who spoke with the correspondent in a private telephone conversation on Thursday on the hospital bed, said he was unhappy that the management denied that the incident happened.

He said, "The bullet pierced through my left thigh and passed into my right thigh. Though I have been attended to medically, there are still fragments of bullet in my legs.

"I am not happy that the management of Michael Otedola College of Primary Education denied that the incident happened."

The spokesman for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said, "From preliminary findings, we are not sure whether the shot was fired by the police or the students. But the police have visited the wounded student in the hospital, and he said he didn't know who shot him.

"Meanwhile, we have arrested all the policemen on duty on that day; they are in detention. Their rifles have been collected and submitted for ballistic examination. We are not protecting anybody. If any policeman is found culpable, he will face the music."