Rampaging youths have taken over Gbeja area at the Oke Baale community in Osogbo, Osun State, after a policeman allegedly opened fire on some youths suspected to be touts while they were playing football on a pitch in the area.
Eyewitnesses account revealed that a youth, simply identified as Segun Emir, said to be a notorious leader of a gang of touts, was shot by one of the policemen, while others suffered varying degrees of injuries.
The source informed our correspondent that two policemen armed with guns, had stormed the pitch, where youths always gather to play football on Sunday morning, before a hot altercation ensued.
It was gathered that one of the policemen had slapped the deceased, after the latter confronted them for trying to disrupt their football match.
The policemen were said to have stormed the area to arrest one Empire, who was accused of attacking a rival thug in the state capital on Friday night. But Emir’s gang members allegedly obstructed the heavily armed policemen from effecting the arrest.
During the argument, one of the policemen allegedly corked his rifle and shot into the crowd of thugs, who were accused of attempting to attack them. A bullet was said to have hit Emir at the chest while others escaped with injuries.
The eyewitness further stated that the policemen hurriedly left the scene after they discovered that Emir was lying in the pool of his blood.
Emir was said to have been rushed to a private hospital not too far from the scene of the incident, but was rejected due to the severity of his condition. He was said to ave arrived at the hospital drenched by his blood.
He was taken to Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital in Osogbo but he did not survive it as he gave up the ghost few minutes after.
As soon as the news of the young footballer’s death broke, irate youths took over the area, demonstrating their anger.
The roads leading to the community were barricaded as vehicular movement was prevented by the irate youths.
Meanwhile, trouble started, when the suspected thugs got to know that the policemen were from Oke Baale Police Division. The rioters, who were armed with dangerous weapons like cutlass, bottles, clubs, besieged the station and attempted to set it ablaze.
They destroyed the police signpost erected at the station and also set a bonfire at the entrance to the station. Some policemen at the post quickly ran inside the station on sighting the rampaging youths.
It was gathered that the anxious policemen had to put a distress call to their headquarters before reinforcements came their way. Four Armoured Personnel Carriers filled with mobile policemen stormed the station and dispersed the rioters.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, Folasade Odoro, confirmed the incident, saying that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Fimihan Adeoye, had ordered a full scale investigation into the matter.
The PPRO explained that the deceased was among the touts that attacked a police patrol team and prevented the policemen from rescuing some people, who made a distress call to the police.
Odoro said, “We received a distress call that over 50 thugs led by Akaje, Ora and Epo were harassing innocent people at Aloyunkewu, Imole n fe Alaafia street, Lion Junction, Ori Eeru, Oke Allahu all at Oke Baale area in Osogbo and that peoples’ lives were in danger.
“Policemen were deployed to the scene swifly to rescue people and when the police patrol team got there, the thugs attacked the policemen with dangerous weapons. TheCommissioner of Police in the state; Mr Fimihan Adeoye, has ordered a full scale investigation into the matter.”
