The Ogun State Police Command has said that soldiers believed to be from Ikeja Cantonment killed some residents of Isheri Olofin, a boundary Community between Lagos and Ogun, on Monday, Igbere TV reports.
This comes barely a week after some soldiers opened fire on three policemen and a civilian on a covert operation to arrest a kidnap kingpin in Taraba State, last week, killing all.
Speaking with Igbere TV in Abeokuta, on Friday, Police Spokesman, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the soldiers had a minor disagreement with youth in the area and started shooting sporadically into the air.
According to him, one Damilare Adelani was hit by bullets and died on the spot. “This infuriated the people who reacted against the soldiers leaving one soldier and 3 others injured.”
An eyewitness and resident of the area, who collaborated the report, said the soldiers appeared drunk and suddenly went berserk, killing three and injuring five others.
The witness who craved anonymity, said the soldiers opened fire on celebrators of the Isheri Day Festival in Kara Community, after they were told to stop harassing innocent people.
Igbere TV gathered that the soldiers had escorted one Tiri, son of Kara Market head to the event’s venue and were violently pushing other guests to create access for their principal before they were confronted by one of the community leaders.
“I told them that what they were doing was not proper. I told them to stop harassing other participants in the festival. The soldiers were two and they work as bodyguards to Tiri.
“The next thing, one of them pointed his gun at me and people gathered there.
“Tiri was also drunk because the three of them came in drunk. After the disagreement, they left and about 300 metres away, we heard gunshots. They just opened fire on people.
“Adelani Dare, who was urinating, was killed on the spot. Tayese sustained gunshot wounds and was rushed to the hospital.
“The shooting angered the people and the soldier was attacked and wounded. He was also taken to the same hospital as Tayese.
“The next thing, they called for reinforcement and when their colleagues came to take the injured soldier, they saw Tayese and shot him dead right in front of the doctor.
“I think the hospital has CCTV and the police can get the footage to see what happened there. The soldiers killed three people and injured five persons.
“This whole thing started around 7:30pm on Monday. This is the first time we are experiencing this kind of sad incident during our festival. We have been celebrating this day for 31 years and have never recorded any death.
“We want the police to arrest Tiri. Once Tiri is arrested, it will be easy to fish out the soldiers who committed this crime because they are his bodyguards and he knows where they are from,” said the resident.
Police Spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who earlier confirmed the development, said the Command had launched investigation into the incident.
