Double tragedy struck an employee of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Femi Badejo, as he was reportedly shot by policemen on Saturday minutes after he was robbed by armed men who stormed his residential home at Ikota area of Lagos state.
His security guard, Joshua Moses, was also hit by the stray bullets of the policemen. It was gathered that the robbers had attacked Badejo and his neighbours in the wee hours of the morning. While the attack was on, one the neighbours made a distress call to the police, but by the time the policemen came to their rescue the robbers had fled.
The armed officers met Badejo and his neighbours outside the compound narrating their ordeal in the hands of the robbers, and suddenly they opened fire and started shooting sporadically, injuring the banker who is currently recuperating at St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos Island.
According to him, “I live in a one-storey building and there are four tenants occupying the ground floor. Around 4am, armed robbers stormed our house.
“The robbers robbed all of us occupying the ground floor. They stole my clothes, money, phones and other valuables. While the robbery was ongoing, one of the tenants called Maroko Police Division.”
“We (neighbours) were all inside the compound counting our losses when we heard a bang on the gate. Immediately the security guard opened, one of the policemen started shooting indiscriminately.
“The security guard was shot in the pelvis and in the back but the bullet pierced through his chest. I immediately took cover under a car but the policeman came to where I was and started shooting at me.
“Another policeman came behind me and shot. The first shot came through my feet and fractured my leg. Two shots grazed my thighs. Another shot went through my biceps and came out, while one went through my wrist.
Still narrating his miraculous survival, Badejo added that it took the intervention of the other neighbours as well as the Divisional Police Officer of the station to prevent him from been shot to death.
After the situation was calmed, Badejo and the injured guard were immediately rushed to the hospital but his guard was in critical condition, thus he was subsequently transferred to General Hospital, Broad Street, and then Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
Unfortunately, Badejo’s colleague who craved anonymity, revealed that he was scheduled to give a lecture at a summit organised by the bank on Saturday but the company executives were curious when he did not show up as scheduled.
He said, “Badejo is in Total Quality Management Department at the head office. He is part of the team working on the 21st century transformation which the bank is working on. He was supposed to deliver a lecture at 8.30am but when we did not see him, we began to wonder what went wrong.
“It was not until later that we received words from one his relatives that he was shot by policemen.”
Still feeling so embittered, Badejo, who couldn’t hide his disappointment at the actions of the police said, “When the policemen came into the compound, they didn’t even ask any questions. One of them just started shooting. Even the armed robbers did not even assault me, they only took my belongings.”
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