Trigger-Happy Police Officer Shoots Kwara Polytechnic Student Dead Over Refusal To Give Bribe

A Nigerian police officer has reportedly shot and killed a student of Kwara State Polytechnic, identified as Ishola Abdulqoyum.

The student was shot dead along Panat Road, a link between Sango and ShopRite in Kwara State.

Abdulqoyum, an ND II part-time student of Electrical/Electronics Engineering, was said to be  on a commercial motorcycle which the police arrested.

The deceased's brother, identified as Abdullah, told SaharaReporters that the victim was stopped while on the motorcycle and ordered into a police patrol vehicle, where officers demanded money from him.

"He told me yesterday that he was going to get footwear for his sign-out. On his way back, he encountered the police, who accosted him and told him to get into their vehicle. They asked him for money, but he said he didn’t have any. While the police were attending to other people they had arrested, he stepped out of the vehicle.

"Before they chased him, they collected his phone and power bank, despite not finding anything incriminating on him.

"He said he hadn't committed any offence, but they chased him and shot him on the spot.

"They shot him in the hand, and it was a deep wound. His last words to passersby were that he was from the Ero family in Oke-Andi. Where they located his family.

"My brother was later taken to the hospital, but his veins had been severed, and he lost a lot of blood. He received four units of blood.

"The police threatened us with guns when we protested the killing."

He urged the Kwara State Government and the Inspector General of Police to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.

According to SaharaReporters, it was learned that the deceased's colleagues, along with some family members, protested at the Kwara State Police Command headquarters, demanding justice for their loved one.

Although initial reports indicated that Abdulqoyum was left alive at the scene, SaharaReporters later confirmed that he succumbed to his injuries early this morning at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH).

In response, the Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, stated via WhatsApp: "Police authorities and government security agencies have been working since morning to get to the root of the incident."

Abdulqoyum, a native of Oke Adini in Ilorin, has been buried at the Hausa Community Cemetery in accordance with Islamic rites.

When SaharaReporters contacted the spokesperson for the Kwara State Police Command, DSP Toun Ejire-Adeyemi, she did not respond to calls or messages.