A VIRAL video surfaced online on Tuesday, showing operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARs) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) shooting suspected phone thieves being conveyed in a popular danfo bus at Igando, Lagos State.
In the video which looks like a movie scene, two individuals were handcuffed and a voice (suspected to be that of the person filming the incident) said, “You go collect, you go collect,” he said in pidgin English, adding that they had a gun.
The third suspect was shown on the floor handcuffed in a yellow minibus that appeared to have been hired for the police operation as he reeled in pain.
Then the policemen, who kept threatening to kill the suspects, ordered them out of the bus.
“Come down! Come down!” they barked at the suspects.
One of the policemen was seen pushing one of the suspects to the cops, who had taken firing squad positions.
“Leave am, make I kill am,” one of the policemen said.
“Kunle, commot there make dem kill the idiot,” another cop said.
Two gunshots followed.
“God punish you! We no dey waste time,” the killer cop said joyfully.
According to the report by Punch, the offences of the suspects, the man who filmed the action, said they usually operated on Jiji, an online sales platform.
He said they lured their victims by promising to buy advertised phones at good prices.
Afterwards, he said the men would collect the phones at gunpoint.
He said, “They post on Jiji that they buy phones. Then, they will call you and price your phone at a higher price.
“After calling you, they will collect your phone at gunpoint. This happens at Igando.
“So, they collected my friend’s phone. My friend then changed his number on Jiji and posted another phone for sale.
“They called him again and he decided to go there with anti-robbery operatives to arrest them so that he could get his phone back.
“The anti-robbery team got there, caught them and shot them.”
Nigerians wondered why the suspects were killed, saying the policemen might be trying to cover up some things.
It will be recalled that over the years, Nigerians are demanding a reform of the Police Force or scrapping of SARS after their involvement in extrajudicial killings of Nigerians which sparked so many reactions in the country.
Some of those who have died in the hands of the rogue officers before yesterday incident are: Emeka Ojinze (23), Linda Angela Igwetu (23), Richard Peter Gora (22), Sofiyat Yekin (23), Mrs Kudirat, Anita Akapson, Kolade Johnson (36), Ademola Moshood (the motorcycle rider who was killed over N200) and a shop owner identified as Biliki killed recently in Lagos while chasing a suspect.
However, the identity of the policemen have been revealed as Fabiyi Omomayara, Olaniyi Solomon, Solomon Sunday and Aliyu Mukaila.
Abeeb Alawiye formerly works with The ICIR as a Reporter/Social Media officer. Now work as a Senior Journalist with BBC News Yoruba. You can shoot him an email via [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @habsonfloww