What we know about Inspector Olalekan, one of two officers accused of killing Kolade Johnson
When Oluwasegun Haziz called the attention of the Nigerian Police Force to the illegal activities of an officer stationed at the Charly Boy, Gbagada division on March 22 – a little over a week ago – his plea for the officer to be called to order fell on deaf ear.
Haziz had notified the Police and the Complaints Response Unit headed by Yomi Shogunle, on Twitter, about the extortion and harassment of young citizens by the officer leading the Anti-Cultism department, popularly called ‘Omo Eko’.
Haziz’s colleague had been arrested on the day on Queen’s Street, Sabo, Yaba while returning from a lunch break. He was dragged into a Danfo bus along with others who were picked “because of their hairstyles”.
After learning of his colleague’s arrest, Haziz proceeded to the Charlie Boy station where he was held and was directed to speak with ‘Omo Eko’, leader of the unit.
Dear @PoliceNG, @PoliceNG_CRU,
In this picture is the head of NPF Anti-cultism department, Charlie boy, Gbagada station. He’s known as Omo Eko.
At around 3:15pm yesterday Thursday 21/03/2019, One of my team members came back to the office informing us our colleague was…
1/.. pic.twitter.com/PVemNPmhKF— Oluwasegun Haziz (@hazizsegun) March 22, 2019
Much to his shock, the officer demanded N50,000 to set his colleague free.
To describe the illegality of the operation, Haziz narrated that the victims were not “taken to the main building.
“They were attended to by the side in their premises/compound which shows it’s an illegal raid,” he said.
Haziz was able to call someone to intercede on his behalf before the officer accepted to collect N5,000.
“I also witnessed someone without help pay N50k cash on the spot. They were allowed to make one call for help. Please do something. This is how SARS started terrorizing the environment,” Haziz pleaded at the time.
Today, officer ‘Omo Eko’ turns out to be Inspector Ogunyemi Olalekan, one of two officers accused of killing Kolade Johnson while he was watching a televised football match in Onipetesi area of Lagos on Sunday.
Officer Olalekan and Sgt. Godwin Orji were believed to have led the raid that resulted in the tragic incident. They were paraded by the police today as the culprits, a little over a week after Haziz had reported Olalekan.
The PCRU was created to react swiftly to complaints of extortion, harassment or injustice against citizens by police officers, but it is unfortunate that it has taken a loss of life before Olalekan would be made accountable for his activities.
