He was shot severally at his head and abdomen by the Police officer who have been chasing him from an unknown destination. The officer eventually accosted him at Onipanu Police Station before sending him to the great beyond.

The reasons behind the shooting has remained a puzzle to all, including three occupants of the Honda Odessy space bus both the deceased and his friends were in before the incident took place. Up till the time of filling this report, they could not provide comprehensive reasons why they were being chased by a tinted glassed Toyota Camry car before they approached Onipanu bus stop.

It was gathered that Femi had attended a party late Saturday night, in company of his younger brother and two other women, and on their way back, they lifted two other people whom they later dropped off. They also picked up two other friends whom they dropped at Mushin.

The deceased elder brother, Olawole Olayiwola told Crime Alert that after his brother noticed a Toyota Camry tailing him from Jibowu Bus_stop and the car was also flashing his headlight indicating that he should stop, he couldn’t stop because it was still very early in the morning and they day was dark.

“ The glass of the tailing car was tinted and they could not see the face of the occupant, but Femi and the rest, decided to ignore the sign and they kept on moving.

The pressures were much and they decided to stop at the Onipanu Police Station but, unknown to them, the occupant of that vehicle who happened to be the DPO of Olosho police Station in Mushin, alighted first and ran over my brother who was still inside his car and without any comment, shot him severally from outside and the bullet pierced the drivers door, hit my bother at the left abdomen and on his head.

At that point, other occupants of the car bolted for safety and when they returned, Femi had already passed away. Ever since, I have been trying to decipher the reason behind the shooting. I could not. You can see how terrible policemen could be. I want the authorities to ask him why he killed my brother. I doubt if they knew themselves before now. Often we have seen the police parade suspects of any sort on the television; we want them to ask this DPO to tell us why he shot my brother dead”, he lamented.

The death of Femi Best has sparked off series of violent protests within Shomolu Local Government Area of the State and the State House of Assembly in Alausa, Ikeja. Angry youths in the area are using the opportunity to express their displeasure over the terrible manner at which the police in their area have being treating them.

The youths in their hundreds were said to have barricaded the road and demanded that the killer cop be handed over to them for instant justice.

A resident of the area, Wale Adebola, told Crime Alert that the area have suffered massive police intimidation and killing for too long and nobody is saying anything about it. “ This is one killing too many and we must stand against it. We have suffered too much from this policemen working at Onipanu, Alade and Pedro Stations.

Just two weeks ago, an Okada rider was killed by a drunken police officer from Alade police Station. He and the occupant of his motorcycle were shot , but he died and the occupant survived.

After that, the police attempted labeling them as armed robbers, before their family revolted. You can’t pass through the Onipanu area at night, because the policemen will harass you and some times, they will intimidate you and take all your belongings. If they find laptop or blackberry phone with you, they will seize it and when you go to their DPO’s, they will refer you back to the officer.

It is so painful and the authorities have to checkmate their activities. At present we are more scared of the police than armed robbers, because they are not friendly to us at all.”

We are currently embarking on peaceful protests, in other to draw the attention of the authorities to our plight. Today we were at the State House of Assembly and we have given the police two weeks ultimatum to fish out the killer of Femi or we will be forced to be violent. I learnt the police officer involved have been arrested and I am sure the police might want to treat him fairly. They must understand that we are not kidding. This injustice must stop.”

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police Lagos State Command, Mr. Marvel Akoyibo, yesterday paid a condolence visit to the deceased family at Alafia lane Shomolu, Lagos and he assured that the command will do its best to unravel the circumstances surrounding the killing. He also said that he will not condone any act of indiscipline within its officers and whoever uses the firearm wrongly will be on his own.

DSM Condemns The Killing Of Femi Best , Calls For Prosecution Of DPO

FATAL VOYAGE! 18 cultists sailed into troubled waters

The suspects being paraded at Navy base, Apapa.

By Albert AKPOR
STRATEGICALLY located at the nation’s territorial water way, the Atlas Cove oil facility, a major distributive channel of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has for sometime now, elicited security alerts, following the July 12, 2009 attack, allegedly by a group operating under the aegis of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND).

After the attack, which led to the death of about four persons, including a senior navy personnel, it became clear to the relevant authorities that there was dire need to provide maximum security in and around the oil installation.

Consequently, a combined team of armed soldiers and policemen were drafted to the area to beef up an already existing security arrangement; especially when the group which claimed responsibility for the attack threatened to launch a repeated one. It was on this premise that movement around the oil facility was restricted and a dusk to dawn patrol intensified.

Perhaps, these arrangements may not be known to 18 persons who were rounded up in a boat near the facility by naval personnel. They were said to be members of a militant group on a vision to vandalize oil installations. But the suspects flatly denied the allegation, insisting that they belong to a dreaded campus cult known as the Supreme Vikings, saying that they were innocently sailing when security agents swooped on them.

Reports say the suspects, who were spotted on a speed boat with red band tide around their heads, were surreptitiously moving towards the oil facility, chanting war songs when they were rounded up. They were promptly taken into custody.

Earlier, the porosity of the Atlas Cove and the need to beef up security has been raised by the manager of the depot, Engineer Anthony Onwuka. Engineer Onwuka had amongst other things raised security alarm on the urgent need to erect perimeter fencing and emergency take off and landing jetty when both the Chief of Defence and Naval Staff, Air Chief Marshal O. O. Petririn and Vice Admiral O. S. Ibrahim visited the oil facility on October 11, 2010.

He had said, “There is urgent need to construct additional observation post both within depot premises and along some strategically identified spots, along the sea side to check vandals’ activities through sea shore lines and creeks. As a matter of security, the Atlas Cove depot has no take-off and landing jetty. We presently operate at the absolute mercy and kindness of the army officers’ jetty opposite Onikan stadium..

But when the 18 suspected militants were paraded before pressmen by the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Western Navy Command, Apapa Lagos, Rear Admiral E.O Ogbor, some of them who volunteered information claimed that they were neither members of MEND nor Niger Delta militants, stressing, however, that they belong to a dreaded university cult known as the ‘Supreme Vikings.’

They claimed that they were ‘sailing’ as is the custom after the initiation of new members into the confraternity. Said one them who gave his name as David and who also claimed that he was newly initiated into the confraternity, “I do not even know why we were in the sea because I was only initiated into the group just last week somewhere in Mushin area of Lagos. However, I paid N5,000 for this trip. Please do not reveal my identity because if they get to know, they will kill me and members of my family...

The only thing I was told was that we, the newly initiated members, were going on a trip on the sea to get acclimatized, learn signs and songs of the confraternity and become ‘hard men.’ It was in the process that we were arrested by the navy.”

The suspects being paraded