Dr Olufemi Ogunjimi, a lawyer and chieftain of Igbimo Asoju Yoruba, has decried the spate of extra-judicial killings in the country especially in the SouthWest by security agents, saying the time for state police is now.
Ogunjimi spoke against the backdrop of the killing of a female lawyer, Mrs Bolanle Raheem, by a bloodthirsty Assistant Superintendent of Police (identity not revealed) under Ajah bridge on Lekki-Ajah Expressway on Christmas day.
In a statement issued on behalf of Igbimo Asoju Yoruba and given to Persecondnews, the journalist-turned lawyer wondered if the extra-judicial killings were not borne out of hatred for a certain part of the country.
“The reckless and unfortunate killing of Mrs Bolanle Raheem by a power drunken and trigger-happy police officer on Christmas Day is one too many and calls for concern by all reasonable citizens.
“While we urge the youth to be calm and citizens to go about their normal business transactions as a result of the incident, we continue to decry the spate of extra-judicial killings in the country and especially in Yoruba land by security agents as we are tended to believe that there is an element of suspicious hatred towards the people and residents of this part of Nigeria.
“It is most unfortunate that despite our calls for rigorous training and restructuring of the security services, we are often faced with trigger happy and drugs abused personnel on our roads and highways,” the lawyer said.
Ogunjimi, therefore, called for the restructuring of the Nigeria Police Force and speedy trial of the alleged killer officer of Mrs Bolanle Raheem.
He said: “It is on the backdrop of the recent wave of killings by police culminating in the murder of Mrs Bolanle Raheem, a lawyer on Christmas Day by a blood thirsty police officer in Lagos that we are again calling for the establishment of state police in the country.
It is an understatement that the Nigeria Police Force is a relic of the brutal regime of our colonial past and it’s long overdue for restructuring.
“In the meantime, we are adding our voices and energies in the call for a speedy open trial of the Christmas day killer officer and the revisiting of other cases in not only the Southwest but nationwide.”
