The air was thick with sorrow at the residence of Mr Odunayo Alade in Ibadan, Oyo State. The pain was palpable.

The home, once filled with the laughter of children, now sat in mournful silence, interrupted only by the footsteps of heartbroken sympathisers trooping in to offer condolences.

Friends, neighbours, and strangers alike gathered; faces bowed, tears flowing freely, as the community mourned the killing of 13-year-old Kehinde.

Kehinde, a secondary school pupil at Jislord High School, Ibadan, was shot dead on Tuesday morning while being driven by his father alongside his twin brother, Taiwo, and elder sibling, Emmanuel. They were on their way to Emmanuel’s ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

Then tragedy struck as a policeman shot at the car, killing the teenager.

Odunayo sat in the living room, his face drained of colour.

His eyes, distant and hollow, stared into nothingness as he received guests offering their condolences. 

“All I want is justice,” he cried out.

He explained that the incident occurred when officers of the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority, accompanied by police, tried to stop his vehicle on Old Ife Road, Alakia, Ibadan.

“As I was driving out, I encountered OYRTMA. In fact, I had got to the point where I was about to turn to the main lane when I saw one of them. They blocked me and used their vehicle to hit my car. I couldn’t wait because I was in a hurry to take their elder brother for his WAEC exam at 8.30am. I didn’t see the police with guns.

“I only saw one of them (OYRTMA), so I put my vehicle in reverse to bypass him, then another towing van came and hit my vehicle. As I was leaving, I suddenly heard a gunshot. Kehinde shouted, ‘Daddy!’,” Alade recalled, visibly distraught.

The single father, who separated from his wife when the children were younger, said there were five children in the vehicle: his three sons and two others belonging to a couple who were also in the car

Driving against traffic

Following the incident, angry youths had carried the pupil’s lifeless body to the state secretariat at Agodi, Ibadan, demanding justice and urging Governor Seyi Makinde to take action.

The body was later deposited at the Adeoyo Hospital morgue.

However, the Oyo State Government, in a statement by the Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor on Media, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, on Tuesday, said Odunayo drove against traffic when the cop fired a shot, which accidentally hit and killed the boy.

The government maintained that the father of the slain boy also drove a tinted black Honda Accord car.

But Odunayo dismissed that the car had fully tinted windows or that he was attempting to evade arrest.

“It was only the rear glass that was tinted. The officers saw everyone in the car,” he said.

When our correspondent visited the scene of the incident on Wednesday, it was observed that the junction where the incident occurred was a little distance from a spot commonly used by motorists to cut into the opposite lane.

The official turning point, however, was located much farther down the road. 

The layout suggests that drivers attempting to save time often resort to using the shorter route, which constitutes driving against traffic.

A vulcaniser at the junction, who identified himself simply as Saheed, noted that it was common for drivers to take the shortcut when the road was clear.

“Most people coming from this side usually pass through here when the road is free because they feel going around the long turning is stressful,” he said.

‘They’ve shot me’

Kehinde’s twin brother, Taiwo, expressed sadness over the incident.

When our correspondent approached him for an interview, he said, “I loved my brother so much. I miss him. How I wish he were still here with me.”

His voice was drowned in tears.

Family members said the twins were inseparable.

A neighbour of the Alade family, Mrs Peter Funmilayo, who was in the car when the incident happened, recalled the last words of the victim, whom she described as a respectful boy.

She also said the traffic officers knew children were in the car.

“One of them opened the door by my side, saw the children, and closed it again. He (Odunayo) tried to move again, just not to delay the boy sitting the exam, because he knew that was what would happen.

“We didn’t know there were policemen carrying guns there. Suddenly, we heard a gunshot. Paul (Kehinde) screamed, ‘They’ve shot me!’ We were all in shock. My husband immediately rushed him to Welfare Hospital,” she said.

Late Kehinde’s maternal aunt, Olabisi Animashaun, expressed anguish over the tragic incident.

She said, “I saw the news on Facebook, but I didn’t realise it was that close to home until his mother called me in tears, telling me her son was dead.” 

A nephew of the deceased, Abe, said he was talented and gifted.

A family friend and church member, Fajobi Olumide, also paid tributes to the late Kehinde, describing him as a humble and gifted church drummer, known for his quiet nature.

“He played the drum set during last Sunday’s church service. Just last Saturday, he came with his father to our house for an event. I gave him a sachet of water because he was too shy to ask. I didn’t know that would be the last time I would see him.”

 Brought in dead

A medical doctor at the Welfare Hospital, Dr Segun Olaniyi, told Saturday PUNCH that the bullet penetrated the victim’s body.

He said, “The boy was brought in on Tuesday around 7:45am with a history of gunshot injury sustained while he was in his father’s car. Upon arrival, his pulse was barely detectable; he was barely alive.”

According to him, the bullet had entered from the back and exited through the front of his abdomen, which suggested that it had torn a major blood vessel in his body.

“The doctors and nurses on duty immediately worked to stabilise him. We then placed him in an ambulance and transferred him to UCH. Unfortunately, he passed away before they arrived.”

The Baale of Adegbayi, Chief Onaolapo Adegbayi, condemned the policeman for shooting at the vehicle.

The retired military officer said, “The police are meant to provide security, not take a life. While the father may have some fault, the appropriate response would have been to arrest him without resorting to shooting.”

Groups demand justice

The National President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Debo Adeniran, condemned the killing, describing it as a grave violation of fundamental human rights.

He decried the practice of laying an ambush for motorists, calling it a tactic used by some law enforcement officers to extort citizens rather than uphold the law.

“Those who are supposed to help citizens obey the law are the same ones luring them into violations and exploiting them. It’s a shame,” he said.

Similarly, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Clement Onwuenwunor, said traffic offence is not a capital offence and certainly not punishable by death.

He said, “The police officer committed manslaughter and should be arraigned and tried accordingly.”

Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Joint Campus Committee, Oyo State, Tiamiyu Ademola issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the police to reveal the identity of the trigger-happy police.