There was tension in the Idigbo community, Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State as an officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service, identified simply as Lamba, allegedly killed a protester, Jacob Bamgbola.
According to information available to AN24, some officers stopped Bamgbola and demanded N200 from him while he was conveying his sister’s daughter on a motorcycle along the Ijowun end of the Idiroko Expressway.
The deceased, however, told the officers that he did not do anything wrong so he could not pay the N200.
As some of the officers were busy attending to other road users, the deceased took advantage of the fact that much attention was not on him and zoomed off.
He narrated the incident to some youths in the community after he had dropped his niece. This birthed anger in the youths who had faced similar extortion by the immigration officers on the road.
The angry youths mobilised other youths to the house of a chief in the community, Moses Faleye, to protest about the development.
According to a source, during the protest, the immigration officers stormed the premises and while trying to disperse the protesters, allegedly shot Bamgbola dead.
He said, “Bamgbola went to carry his sister’s daughter and on his way back, he met immigration officers on the road. Those officers are always there at the checkpoint. They stopped him and wanted to collect N200 from him but he refused.
“He told them that he is a son of Otun village and why should he pay them anything. After he left, he complained to some youths and the youths mobilised themselves to the Baale’s house to register their grievances over the activities of the officers.
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“But within some minutes, the immigration officers came in a van and while the Baale was trying to calm the situation, they started shooting and in the process, one of them known as Lamba shot Bamgbola. The youths were rushing Bamgbola to the hospital when he died.”
While lamenting about the heinous activities of security personnel in the community, the head of the vigilance group in the town, Adesina Alabi, said, “Just come to this side of the road and see how police, Customs officers, immigration officers, and others would just mount roadblocks and extort money from motorists. It is becoming too much”.
Confirming the incident, Falaye lamented that Bamgbola’s life was cut short while the issue could have settled amicably.
He said, “It happened in front of my house. Youths in the town came to register their displeasure over the activities of the immigration officers in our community.
“While I was trying to placate them, some immigration officers came and when they saw the youths, they started to shoot in the air. In the process, one person was hit by the bullet and he died.
“After the incident, the case was reported at the Igbokofi Police Station and the policemen came with cameras and they took statements from us.”
The state Police Public Relations, SP Omolola Odutola, told our correspondent that she was not aware of the case.
Contacted, the spokesperson for the NIS in the state, Olajide Oshifeso, said, “The matter is already being investigated and when it is completed, details of the matter would be made public.”