The father of a ram merchant who was allegedly killed by the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Mr Rasheed Ayinla, weekend told the panel of enquiry on police brutality in Osogbo, Osun State, how policemen gave him money after his son, Ismaila Rasheed, was allegedly killed and robbed of N4 million in a hotel where he lodged along Iwo/Ibadan Expressway, Iwo, Osun State on August 18, 2020.
The man who gave evidence in tears, Saturday told the panel that his son was killed after he was robbed of the money he wanted to use in buying ram in the northern part of Nigeria.
He said, “my son called his wife and informed her of the attack by two SARS officers around 3:30am and the wife called me. Before we get to the scene when the day breaks, the police told us that he was killed.
“The police gave us N977,000 which they claimed they recovered from my son’s hotel room. They gave us N100, 000 for our transport fare. They called us on another day and gave us N100,000. The ACP invited the wife of the deceased and myself, he pleaded with us and when we are going he gave us N700,000. He claimed that the money was not part of the one they recovered from the deceased. He later sent another N300,000 to the wife and N20,000 as transport,” Ayinla narrated.
The Manager of Ile Labo Guest House, where Ismaila was purportedly killed in Iwo, Mr Afeez Adio, told the panel that officer of disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) identified as Odua admitted that he shot his guest dead before Assistant Commissioner of Police at Osogbo Command.
The manager stated that the deceased entered the hotel with bag containing money.
He said the two Police Officers, identified as Odua and Are from Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had been accommodated in the Guest House by the owner, Alhaji Ayo Dauda Adigun, on the consent of the Divisional Police Officer, DPO free of charge.
He said “one of the officers of the SARS in the Guest House called the Manager, Afeez Tella Adio, that they had shot dead one of the thieves that invaded the Guesthouse. I rushed to the room and found Ismaila Rasheed in his pool of blood. But I opposed that, I said he is my guest and not a thief.
“When they wanted to carry his corpse and his belonging from the hotel, I noticed that the bag he was carrying the night before had been tampered with suggesting that its content was removed. The police said he brought a cutlass into the hotel to robbed but I opposed that, he did not lodge into the hotel with a cutlass.
“We were taken to the Police Command Osogbo with the owner, a lady and myself over the issue. We met the two officers (Odua and Are) and the Assistant Commissioner of Police. The ACP asked the two officers who shot dead the guest, Odua admitted to having killed my guest”
