Osun Judicial Panel: How Police Officers killed my brother, withheld his corpse for four years, injured my spinal cord – Petitioner

As the Osun Judicial Panel of Inquiry on police brutality, human rights violations and related extra-judicial killings continues to look into the grievances of citizens on abuse by men of the police force, a petitioner has narrated how police officers killed his brother and failed to release his corpse to the family after four years.

Teslim Olakunle Ibitoye, a resident of Erin-Osun area of the State, who spoke during the sitting of the panel on Friday, added the officers whose bullets killed his brother were also responsible for the injury he sustained in his spinal cord.

Ibitoye, who described the incident as an offspring of some overzealous officers’ chase of suspected criminals, claimed that the killing of his brother, who he described as the breadwinner of the family, has left a strain on the family’s wellbeing.

“The event that led to our petition before this honourable panel happened on the 25th of April 2017. We were at our cousin’s place on a visit when suddenly I heard a gun shot. The last thing I remembered was that I stood up at the sound of the first gun shot.

“We were taken in a bus and driven to Osogbo. My brother was lying dead on the ground and I also was lying on my back because I couldn’t sit by myself again. I remember that when the Commissioner of Police at the time, CP Adeoye, came around, my cousin, Nureni Ibitoye, and the other suspects that were apprehended, kept repeating that myself and my brother had not done any wrong.

“On the basis of their testimonies, the Commissioner of Police ordered that I be taken to the Police Clinic for treatment. I was sneaked out of the Clinic on April 28 at about 2:00am and taken to Abuja. After some examinations in Abuja, one oga Abba Kyari ordered that I be taken to the hospital for treatment.

“I was taken to the General Hospital at Gwagalada, where I was admitted and discharged on August 1. From there, I was taken to the Police Cell again for two weeks. I was eventually released on August 15, and I have been trying to treat myself since then.

“It is unfortunate but that attack has ruined a lot of things around my family. My mother is still in shock, finding it hard to believe her son got shot.

“Other members of the family are still trying to recover from the trauma because my brother’s body has been withheld for four years despite the fact that all investigations show that he has not committed any crime. The killing of the breadwinner of the family has turned everything upside-down in the family.

“I am grateful for this Panel set up by the government, because my expectations are graduay being fulfilled. The Panel has just initiated the process for the release of my brother’s corpse. This is a positive development for us.

“That aside, I want to be treated. As I speak, I still have a bullet in my T4 (spinal cord) that I have been carrying around for four years. If there’s anywhere, I can be taken to get a proper treatment and for the bullet in my T4 to be removed, I will be most pleased.

“The effect on my health has been severe. Breathing for me has required extra efforts, and even despite the support, I don’t have the strength to stand.

“For the extent of the damage done to my family and to me, I am appealing for an order of adequate compensation to the tune of Fifty Million Naira Only (N 50,000,000)”, Ibitoye stated.