Amotekun official allegedly shoots 23-year-old dead in Ibadan

An official of the Southwest Security Network, Amotekun, identified as Afolabi Kazeem, reportedly killed Tosin Thomas, a 23-year-old man in Ibadan, Oyo state capital.

The incident occurred at a Total filling station in the Mokola axis of the state on Wednesday.

Olayinka Olayanju, commandant of the corps in Oyo, confirmed the incident in a statement on Thursday.

The development comes less than a day after Seyi Makinde, governor of the state, claimed that lies were being peddled against the corps.

According to Olayinka, trouble started after Amotekun operatives received a distress call during an armed robbery attack.

He explained that seven of the operatives, led by George Idowu, the team leader, arrived at the scene of the incident and met a crowd.

In the process of gathering information, Kazeem was said to have felt threatened by the crowd and fired a shot to disperse them.

However, the shot hit Thomas, subsequently killing him.

“On arrival at the scene of the alleged crime, it turned out that it was not an armed robbery operation, though a crowd had gathered,” the statement read.

“The Team Leader, sensing no immediate danger to anyone at the scene immediately proceeded to speak with the station manager. While he was with the manager, he heard a gunshot.

“As it turned out, one of his team members, by the name Afolabi Kazeem, who felt sufficiently threatened by the crowd, which included some hoodlums armed with cutlasses and other dangerous weapons, opened fire to supposedly scare away the crowd. Unfortunately, his shot hit one Mr Tosin Thomas, 23, who was subsequently confirmed dead.”

Olayanju said Kazeem has been found guilty of acting outside the corps protocol and has been handed over to the police for prosecution.

“The Corps has found that Afolabi Kazeem with Ammunition Number AM031849 acted outside the Amotekun Corps’ protocols,” he said.

“For this reason, he has been summarily dismissed from the Corps and handed over to the police for prosecution. Also, his Team leader, George Idowu, is being thoroughly investigated and will face all necessary sanctions.

Several reports of extrajudicial killings and unwarranted harassment have been labelled against the outfit–six weeks after it began operation in the state.

Makinde, who had said he should be held responsible for their actions, however, dismissed most of the reports as fake.