Tragedy struck in Abeokuta,
yesterday, when men of the Vigilante Service of Ogun State, VSO, reportedly
shot dead a student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Moruf Raji, 29,
and a staff of a telecommunication company, MTN Nigeria, Akeem Usman, 32, while
chasing suspected robbers.
The incident occurred at
Adigbe, at about 1.00 a.m when a team of the vigilance service allegedly
ordered residents of 18A, Sorinola Avenue, Oriyanrin, to open their gate for
them to arrest suspected robbers believed to be hiding in the building. An eye witness told Vanguard News that some of the residents who were mostly
students refused to open the gate, suspecting the vigilante men to be robbers
trying to play smart.
The witness further
explained that Moruf and Akeem went out from their rooms and opened the gate
for them but one of the men of VSO opened fire on the two men killing them
instantly. Vanguard News gathered that men of the VSO still went ahead to
force their way into the compound after shooting the two men and ransacked the
rooms, while the victims were bleeding profusely. It was further gathered that, the vigilantes used
their patrol vehicle to rush the victims to the Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba
Abeokuta where they died following excessive loss of blood.
Vanguard learnt that,
Moroof was a Business Administration student of MAPOLY who was on one-year
Industrial attachment and Akeem who was a staff of MTN that go married seven
months ago. According to findings, Akeem worked
in Lagos but came to Abeokuta to attend a religious programme scheduled for
10.00am on Sunday. He was said to have
resolved to sleep with a family-friend because of the proximity of the house to
the venue of the programme. His driver,
Abayomi Awoyajo was also said to have sustained injury after being battered by
the members of vigilance during the raid.
Narrating the incident
Abayomi said they were all inside when at about 1.00am ,the vigilante men came
asking them to open the door. “We all thought
they were armed robbers, we started running helter-skelter, some of us hid in
the wardrobe, while some hid under the chairs,” he said. The 30 year old driver, also said the two victims in
pool of their blood crawled back into the house,crying loud, while the
vigilantes forced their way into the house to continue dealing with all of
them in a brutal matter.
“They even asked for
brother Akeem’s car key which I gave to them, but, could not be taken out
because of the security device installed in it, we were later rushed to the
hospital” he explained.
However, as at the time
of filing this report, all the members of the vigilante service that were
involved in the act have been arrested by the police from Adigbe
station.
The case was said to have
been transferred to Eleweran Police Headquarters, Abeokuta but the Police
Public Relations Officer in the State, Muyiwa Adejobi could not be reached as at
the time of filing this report
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