According to the victim, the incident occurred Wednesday last week, 3pm when he noticed policemen stopping and searching some individuals before attempting to force them into a police van.
A Lagos State resident has narrated how operatives of the Nigeria Police Force allegedly shot him after he questioned the reason behind the arrest of some young men in the Powerline area of Lagos State.
According to the victim, the incident occurred Wednesday last week, 3pm when he noticed policemen stopping and searching some individuals before attempting to force them into a police van.
“It was on Wednesday (last week) around after 3pm around Powerline area of Lagos. I saw the policemen stopping some guys, searching them and trying to push them into a police van,” he said.
He explained that one of the individuals being harassed was someone he knew, which prompted him to intervene and inquire about the situation.
When he demanded an explanation from the officers, he said they warned him not to interfere, a directive he refused to accept.
“And when I asked the police what happened, they said I should not intervene. At that time, I insisted that if they could not tell me what happened, they would take those guys away,” he narrated.
“They should tell me his offence that warrants his arrest. One of them who wore uniform also asked me what happened, then we explained to him and he ordered that they should release the guy,” he said.
He added that after searching the young man and finding nothing incriminating, they were about to leave the scene when other policemen, allegedly attached to Area G Command, arrived.
According to him, the situation quickly escalated as the officers allegedly ordered a fresh arrest.
“So they immediately said ‘they should catch all of them," he said, explaining that others fled while he remained calm, believing he had done nothing wrong.
Moments later, he said, a senior officer threatened him with lethal force.
“The next thing I saw was him cocking the gun and he shot it. The bullet hit me on my thigh, the second bullet hit me at my thumb as I was trying to run away too,” he said.
Despite being shot, the victim said he was arrested alongside others and taken to Elere Police Station, where the officers allegedly concocted accusations against him.
“They later arrested us and took us to the Elere Police Station. That was how they framed us that I was trying to snatch gun from him,” he said.
He further alleged that they were beaten and forced to confess to crimes they did not commit.
“And they started beating us… They beat me to confess to a crime I did not commit,” he said.
Although he was bleeding, he said he was still detained overnight.
“At night they ordered that we should be put inside cell. But one of them said I should not be kept in the cell because I was bleeding,” he said, adding that they still slept in custody.
The following day, the victim said the police demanded money for bail and additional payments.
“The following day, they said we should look for how to grant our bail,” he said.
He further alleged that they were compelled to pay for a damaged phone allegedly hit by a stray bullet.
“We were forced to pay for the damaged phone of a passerby whose phone was hit by the stray bullet on that night,” he said.
“One of us sent N150,000 for the phone to be repurchased and we later paid another N150,000 for bail, making N300,000,” he said.
When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the station denied all the claims made by the residents despite video evidence.