Oyo Amotekun dismisses officer for killing 23-yr-old motorcyclist

Following the killing of Tosin Thomas, a 23-year-old commercial motorcyclist in Ibadan, the management of the Western Security Network codenamed Amotekun Corp has dismissed the officer that killed the youngman.

Amotekun gave the name of the officer, who fired the shot that killed Thomas as Kazeem Afolabi and has also delivered him to the police for prosecution.

Thomas was said to have been hit by stray bullet around 11pm on Wednesday, January 13, 2021, when Amotekun corps were on patrol around Mokola area of Ibadan.

In a statement by the media officer of the security outfit, Ayoola Adedoja, on Thursday, January 1, 2020, the Commandant of Amotekun, Col. Olayinka Olayanju said Afolabi acted outside the guideline of the security outfit and had been dismissed and handed over to the police for prosecution.

Explaining how the incident happened, the commandant said the leader of Amotekun operatives around Mokola received a call that there was an armed robbery in the area and seven members of the agency proceeded to the place.

He said on getting there, they found out that it was not a robbery operation but a crowd which included some hoodlums.

“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 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 weapons, opened fire to supposedly scare away the crowd. Unfortunately, his shot hit one Mr Tosin Thomas, 23, who was subsequently confirmed dead.

“The corps has found that Afolabi Kazeem with ammunition number AM031849 acted outside the Amotekun Corps’ protocols.

“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.”

Earlier, commercial motorcyclist operators in Mokola had taken to the streets of Ibadan to protest the alleged killing of their colleague by Amotkun Corps in Oyo state.