THE Ojuade family of Surulere, Lagos State, has called on Lagos State Police Command to explain it’s claim that their daughter Monsurat Ojuade, was killed by stray bullet.
According to the family, their daughter was shot at and not hit by a stray bullet as claimed by the command.
The family spoke through their lawyer, Samuel Mbaebie, describing the press statement issued by the command as “misleading”, describing the teenager’s death as an “execution styled murder.”
A Facebook post by the lawyer said:
“Our clients reject in its entirety and without any equivocation, the said Police report and state with every sense of consternation and dismay that their daughter was not killed by a stray bullet but was shot at close range execution-style by the killer Police personnel,” he said.
The lawyer said the deceased was killed in “cold blood with a clear premeditation on the part of the killer Police personnel and not a stray bullet as painted by the Police.”
He said the Police had gone after the deceased and her sister (Olaide Ojuade) “in hot pursuit and was banging on the gate shouting “I will shoot.”
That almost simultaneously, a gunshot rang out, hitting and killing the late Monsurat, while the killer cop walked casually away, leaving her to bleed to death.
“That it is very disrespectful to the memory of the deceased for the police to attempt at this moment to change the narrative to the effect that the deceased was killed by a stray bullet.”
The family have demanded that the police publicly identify the killer, adding that “any other thing to the contrary would be perceived as an attempt at a cover-up on the part of the Police and will be unacceptable to them.”
They also demand to know “from the killer of their daughter the reason why he/she pursued an innocent girl to her compound and shot her from a very close range execution-style and casually walked away as if it was a chicken or a goat that had just been murdered
Mr Mbaebie added that the family would proceed to the court to seek justice.
The incident came barely two months after a stray bullet fired while Police officers were attempting to disperse a crowd at a rally in Ojota killed a 25-year-old lady, Jumoke Oyeleke.
The police had also attempted to absolve its officers of the death, claiming they never fired a live bullet at the protest.
Monsurat Ojuade, 18, was killed in her compound after the police raided their area in Mogaji, Surulere on Friday night.
Following the incident, the Lagos State Police Command through its spokesperson, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the deceased was “hit by a stray bullet at about 0100hrs of 11th September, 2021 when a team of detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti went on investigation activities to effect the arrest of a robbery suspect in Ijeshatedo area of the state.”
Mr Ajisebutu said the trigger-happy officer has been arrested and detained. He, however, did not disclose the identity of the policeman.
