From Clement Adeyi,
Osogbo
Two students of the Osun State University (Uniosun), Osogbo, were yesterday shot by some policemen from the headquarters of Zone 11 of the Nigerian Police Force covering Osun, Oyo and Ondo states.
Sunday Sun gathered that the victims identified as Kazeem Adesola and Ibrahim Ajao were hit by the trigger-happy cops when they shot at the university students playing football on an off-campus pitch around Oke Baale area. The development triggered tension in the city yesterday when students of the institution went on rampage to protest the attack on their schoolmates. It was gathered that the policemen had stormed the pitch in mufti and accused some of the students of involvement in internet fraud also known as Yahoo-Yahoo.
A student at the scene of the incident who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the policemen were in the habit of harassing and extorting money from students in the area after accusing them of internet fraud, adding that it was an attempt by the students to resist the harassment this time round that led to the shooting by the police. “We were playing football when they came. They always come like that to arrest students here. They would say that we are involved in Yahoo-Yahoo and they would seize our laptops and phones and extort money from us,” he said. “They would collect money from us under the pretext of bail. But we resisted them on this last one. Within a twinkling of an eye, the policemen started shooting and we ran away but bullets hit two of us.
They were rushed to a nearby hospital. A bullet hit one student near his stomach and another bullet hit the second student in his mouth.” The Commissioner of Police, Mr Fimihan Adeoye, who confirmed the incident, disclosed that the policemen had been arrested and detained, assuring that they would face the full wrath of the law. Adeoye also said he had ordered full investigation into the matter.
He, however, cautioned the students of the institution not to take laws into their hands, assuring that justice would be brought to bear.
He also assured the people of Osogbo of their safety and readiness to ensure peace and tranquility in the state.