Police boss Abayomi Shogunle justifies DSS’ shooting of unarmed man in Benin
Head of Police Complaints Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU) Abayomi Shogunle has appeared to justify the extrajudicial killing of an unarmed man in Benin, Edo State, on Tuesday.
A witness said the operatives, now confirmed to be DSS, were carrying out a raid in the area when the victim attempted to flee. He was shot in the back point blank by officers who were not willing to give him a chase.
Shogunle, while establishing that the shooters were not police officers, said it is indeed lawful for excessive force to be used on an unarmed suspect.
“If you don’t want to be shot at during an arrest then don’t use a gun to commit the crime,” he wrote on his Twitter on Wednesday.
“IT’S LAWFUL for Nigeria’s law enforcement agencies to use firearms to effect the arrest of an unarmed suspect who takes to flight during arrest for a crime s/he used a gun to perpetrate,” he added.
Since the avoidable incident sparked public outrage, the police has said all the men rounded up in the viral video are members of a violent kidnap syndicate who were tracked down to the said location.
It is not the first time Shogunle would be making such controversial statements.
