Femi Badejo, the banker who was shot by policemen at
his home in Ikota area of Lagos sometime in November alongside with his
security guard Joshua Moses, is finally out of the hospital and he is telling
his own side of the story. See it below...
“As I discussed the armed robbery incident with
other occupants within our apartment complex, we noticed the gate open slightly
followed by the unmistakable sounds of a war grade AK47 rifle."
At the Instant, I ducked under a car in the
apartment complex and noticed my security guard groaning excruciating a few
meters from my location. Why did these robbers come back? I asked rhetorically
and prayed to be spared. Then as I heard the next round of shots, I felt the
venom of the automatic rifle spew all over my body. So intense were the sharp
burst of pains that I was on the verge of passing out when the words
"Police" was heard from the shooter". A surge of deeply felt
anger immediately numbed the pains from the five gunshot wounds - one in my
feet, two in my thigh, one in my bicep and one in my wrist - as I identified
myself as a tenant in the apartment complex.
Why did he not identify himself earlier as required
by his training? Did the words "This is the police"
"Freeze" "Don't move" go on vacation in police parlance?
Why will a police officer shoot an unarmed man five times under a car despite having
his hands over his head?
My case is a bizarre one. I had been robbed by a
gang of armed bandits. Dispossessed of my valuables without been harmed only to
be shot five times by a police officer attached to the
Ajah Police Station in Lagos state Nigeria! My name
is Femi Badejo, a professional in one of
Nigeria's leading financial institution and a victim
of a retrogressive, ill-trained, unprofessional, poorly clad and irresponsible
Nigerian Police Force. However, I am not alone.
Scores of Innocent lives are snuffed out daily by
the very institution established to secure their lives in Nigeria. In November,
a policeman shot and killed a bus conductor In the Ketu area of Lagos State over a bus fare change of 30cents. A
human rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law estimates that over
54,000 Nigerians were killed illegally from 1999 to 2011 by the Nigerian Police Force. This
amounts to an act of genocide against Nigerian by Nigerians in Nigeria!
Dreams, hopes, aspirations and goals have been
brutally pierced by the bullets of a poorly trained "vigilante" unit
legally recognized as Police Officers. To further add "salt to the
injuries" of the victims' loved ones are the incessant cover ups, lies and
denials by the public relations officers in every jurisdiction where these
incidents occur. My shooting was downplayed to a gunshot with a case of
mistaken identity attached to it by NgozI BraIde (PRO, NPF Lagos). While Joshua
the security guard - was said to have been shot by the armed bandits and dead on
arrival by the police officers. Joshua who was presumed dead after he was shot
by the officer is however recuperating from the three gunshot wounds he
sustained.
While it is embarrassing that the Nigerian Police
Force represents the decaying fabrics of the larger Nigerian society where
politicians will rather loot billions of dollars from the central purse than
secure the lives of its citizenry. It's appalling that an institution
established with the foundational principles of equity, fairness, integrity and
justice is known for the opposite of these enviable attributes with a skillset
of killing the citizens they are meant to protect. Even more appalling is the
pervasive non action of the political class - which will prefer to spend
billions on frivolities such as a N2.2 billion banquet hall! - Public defenders,
human rights activists, Clergymen and other concerned professionals on these
immoral policing anomalies! Soon there will be no citizen to police at this
rate! Are we really that helpless?
I am not. My voice will be heard the world over
because this culture of impunity must stop! I type every word on my soft touch
phone screen with excruciating pains as I still have a bullet logged in my
wrist and my fingers remain numb with paddings of gauze and plasters all over my
body. I have received no apology from the force, I am still Incurring hospital
bills running into thousands of dollars, the Lagos State commissioner of police
has refused to accept the letter served by my lawyers A.O Fayemiwo & Co,
the NPF divisions in Ajah and Maroko have also followed the commissioner's
unprofessional conduct just as the police officer who shot me has not been
brought to book.
Once again, my name is Femi Badeo, a Nigerian
citizen and I represent countless individuals that have either lost their lives
or survived the brutish policing of the Nigerian Police Force and we are
fighting back! We must ask the right questions, demand the right answers and collectively
find a lasting solution to the endemic problem of brutality by officers of the
Nigerian Police Force.
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