How Police officers allegedly killed footballer in Ogun

An operative of the Nigerian Police has allegedly caused the death of a professional footballer with Remo Stars Football Club, Kazeem Tiyamiyu, at Orile Imo area of the Sagamu-Abeokuta Expressway on Saturday.

Sources told Tribune Online that the footballer, popularly known as “Kaka” was pushed from a moving vehicle before he was knocked down by an oncoming vehicle. But Police in the state said Tiyamiyu was hit by the vehicle after trying to evade arrest.

The Police in a statement released on Sunday morning said Tiyamiyu was arrested by the police officer for allegedly putting on military apparel.

Other sources, however, said the Assistant Captain of Remo Stars FC, was arrested by a team of police officers having been taken for a suspected internet fraudster (Yahoo boy).

Tiyamiyu was declared dead at Fakoya Hospital in Sagamu, where he was rushed to.

Media manager of Remo Stars Football Club, Oladimeji Oshode, confirmed the incident to Tribune Online in a statement.

He said the incident happened while the late Tiyamiyu was driving along Sagamu area with one of his teammates, Sanni Abubakar.

Oshode said: “According to an eyewitness, he claimed that the SARS officer stopped the footballer to label him a Yahoo Boy.

“The SARS officer stopped Tiyamiyu Kazeem insisting that he was a Yahoo Boy; he brought out his identity card to identify himself as a player of Remo Stars FC but the officer insisted on taking him to the nearest police station in Sagamu.

“Tiyamiyu and Sanni obliged, followed the SARS officers, only for them to notice that they were driving towards Sagamu-Abeokuta Expressway.

“Then the guys questioned to know where the SARS officers were taking them to, but this prompted them to stop the car and push him (Tiyamiyu) out of the car, and a vehicle knocked him down.”

Oshode described the death of the footballer as a great loss to Remo Stars family and the entire football fraternity.

The development caused an uproar in Sagamu as youths barricaded some roads in Sagamu in protest. Bonfires were also set on some of the roads.

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The youth who protested majorly on Ewusi street which houses the Sagamu Police station took the protest to the palace of the Akarigbo and paramount ruler of Remo, Oba Babatunde Ajayi.

However, Police in the state said the footballer was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver and not by a policeman as widely reported.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, made this known in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abeokuta.

Oyeyemi said the late footballer while trying to escape after his arrest was knocked down by a vehicle when he attempted to cross the highway.

According to him, the footballer was also arrested for wearing a military cap and not on suspicion of internet fraud.

He further pointed out that the operative, who arrested the deceased, was an inspector attached to the Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS), Obada, and not a SARS operative.

“A police inspector attached to Zonal Intervention Squad, Obada-Oko, in Abeokuta, was said to have received information about the deceased that he was always putting on military apparels knowing fully well that he was not military personnel.

“Based on the information, the inspector went to Sagamu and saw the deceased putting on a military cap consequent upon which he got him arrested.

“On the way to Abeokuta, the vehicle they were travelling in developed a mechanical fault and while the officer was trying to rectify the fault, the arrested person jumped down from the vehicle to escape.

“In his bid to run across the road, an oncoming vehicle which was on high speed knocked him down and he died on the spot,” he said.

Oyeyemi disclosed that the Commissioner of Police had ordered the immediate arrest of the officer for his unprofessional act of leaving an arrested person alone in the vehicle.

“A full-scale investigation into the case by the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department has commenced,” he said.