The family of Dada Oluwaseyi Kehinde, a student of Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) in Ekiti State who was allegedly killed by the police during a protest by his colleagues, has called for justice for their son.
Father of the deceased, Mr. Dada Adedayo Emmanuel, sent a petition, dated September 23, 2019, to House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.
The petition was signed by Dada Olawale.
It urged Gbajabiamila to investigate the killing and ensure justice for the slain student.
Kehinde was shot dead during the September 10 protest held by FUOYE students against incessant outages in the university’s host town.
The 23-year-old student of the Department of Crop Science and Horticulture was allegedly shot with a live bullet when some policemen wanted to rescue Mrs Fayemi from possible attack by the rampaging students.
The incident led to the destruction of 10 vehicles in Mrs. Fayemi’s convoy while government officials and journalists on the entourage were injured.
The petition said it was pathetic that Kehinde’s killer, who had no reason to shoot, had not been arrested.
It reads: “The need to investigate the circumstances surrounding this extra-judicial and unlawful killing cum unprofessional conduct of these killer-policemen was necessitated by the fact that the police personnel were members of the security team of the governor’s wife; they accompanied her to the venue of a programme being organised by her office across local government areas.
“The arrival of the governor’s wife motivated the protesting students to gather once more to present their plight at the venue of her programme. The behaviour of the police and other accomplices was said to have angered some students, who might have participated in the peaceful protest, and this led to the unprofessional handling of the situation.
“There are contradicting claims on the happenings on the date, but the decision of the police to use maximum force of shooting sporadically at the students, as available on various social media platforms, substantiates the claim that the police were directed by a superior authority to aim the protesting students and treat them as hostile elements to the governor’s wife.
“These acts led to the death of two indigenous students while many others were injured. Among the dead was our son, Dada Kehinde Oluwaseyi, whose death was believed to have been caused by lapses and (mis)conduct of the security operatives.
“The members of the family are deeply sorrowed by this development and appreciate the condemnation from the state governor and his wife.”
We are also concerned by ill-treatment of the incident by the police authority, knowing the fact that the actions of their personnel fell below globally acceptable standard operational practice and procedure of security agencies.”
The family urged the House of Representatives to begin detailed investigation into the incident and other issues surrounding it to determine the remote and actual causes of the sad development and move to forestall future occurrences.
“The House should help to compel the police authority to investigate the actions of their personnel on the fateful day, in line with standard operational practice and globally acceptable standard on the rules guiding the use of firearms as regards protective security and other functions of police personnel.
“They should also prosecute all parties who were found culpable and ensure the payment of compensation to the families of the dead and surviving victims of the incident,” the petition added.
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