Boy, 10, shot in Imo
The news of gunshots at a bus that led to the death of 14-year-old boy, Faruq Olaruwajo, has been trending in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital since the incident happened a week ago.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that an officer with the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), on routine stop and search operation on Damaturu--Maiduguri highway, allegedly opened fire on a vehicle the boy and his mother were travelling in. A bullet was said to have pierced the door and struck the teenager in the belly. The boy bled to death.
The Yobe State Commissioner of Police, Abdumaliki Sunmonu, who described the incident as unfortunate said the vehicle was a smuggled Mercedes Benz car and had picked the teenager and his mother from Kano.
He said the vehicle, which has no plate number, sped off when the shot was fired. “A bullet hit the boy who was rushed to the hospital but later died. Though, the police is not supposed to shoot to kill,” Sunmonu said.
He said the driver only returned to the checkpoint almost an hour after the incident.
Although the commissioner did not mention the name of the officer who shot Faruq, he confirmed that the officer and driver have been detained to allow careful investigation of the case.
The mother of late teenager, Ms Remi Latifatu, argued that the police did not stop them at the checkpoint, saying they only heard four gunshots from behind. She said they were cracking jokes in the vehicle when Faruq noticed blood gushing out of his stomach.
“I started shouting and the driver quickly returned to the checkpoint. One of the
Security dispatched to ensure that the demolition of the Ekeukwu market in Owerri, Imo State last weekend was smoothly executed, went too far by killing a 10-yearold boy, Somtochukwu Ibeanusi, in the process.
The Imo State Government issued an evacuation notice to traders in order to develop a highbrow property on the location and thus ordered for the demolition of the market.
The boy was allegedly shot while helping to evacuate goods from his father’s shop. The army, police, officers was crying, he held my child tight and rushed him to the hospital. In fact this heartless shooter has deprived me the entire joy of my life. Faruq was my only son,” she sobbed.
She said the police only informed her that the boy had died until after three days. “They lied that he was on referral to University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. I went to Maiduguri and another officer told me that he was taken back Damaturu. They fooled me for almost three days before my nephew who came from Osun State broke the sad news that Faruq was dead,” she lamented.
Latifatu said she was a regular kolanut seller to Maiduguri and she always went with the boy to introduce him to her customers and the terrain.
“The Police should have asked whatever the State Security Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps participated in the exercise.
The incident precipitated wide range commendation with the Imo State Police Command, however, pledging proper investigation following the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department.
The Peoples Democratic Party, in a statement through its National Publicity Secretary, Dayo Adeyeye, condemned the forceful nature which the security deployed to vacate the traders.
Meanwhile, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Mr Charles Mbalisi, has petitioned the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over the demolition of market.
In copy of the petition made available to newsmen in Abuja, Mbalisi also petitioned the NHRC on the alleged killing of Ibeanusi in the process.
The governor of Imo, Mr Rochas Okorocha and nine others were named in the petition.
they wanted and spared my child. He was the only person I had and they have taken him away. I am pleading with the Inspector-General of Police to follow-up on this case and prosecute that officer because we did not break any law,” she said.
Also, the driver told newsmen that the police didn’t stop him for search and that he drove the vehicle from Lagos passing through all the checkpoints because his particulars are genuine and intact.
“What I expected from the officer was to stop me if he was in doubt but he did not. It was a free flow and I was among the vehicle they have cleared. So, even as at the time he fired I didn’t know it was targeted at us until we noticed the boy bleeding,” he said.
The Assistant Secretary-General, Network for Civil Society, Mr Ishaku Adamu,