Football Fan, Kolade Johnson Killed By Police Buried Amidst Tears

Tears flowed at the Atan Cemetery, Yaba, on Thursday as the remains of a 36-year-old football fan, Kolade Johnson, who was shot dead by an operative of the Special Anti-Cultism Squad, were laid to rest.

Family members, friends and sympathisers paid tributes to the memory of the deceased, as they called on the police authorities to ensure justice was served.

Kolade was shot dead on March 31 when some SACS operatives stormed Olu Aboderin Street, in the Onipetesi area of Lagos State.

The victim was watching a live English Premiership League football match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur when the incident happened.

The operatives were reported to have earlier arrested a man, identified only as Ismail, who was seeing off his girlfriend to the bus stop; residents had protested against the arrest.

One of the operatives, Inspector Ogunyemi Olalekan, allegedly shot in the air to disperse the crowd.

But a bullet was said to have hit Kolade where he stood.

Before he could be rushed to a hospital, he had given up the ghost.

The deceased’s body left the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, for his family house at the Mongoro area of the state, from where it was taken to the Atan Cemetery, Yaba.

Kolade’s brother, Boluwade Awakan, said, “I don’t believe justice has been served because the case is still in court. It is when we see the outcome of the case that we can say if justice has been served or not.”

He noted that the police authorities sent some delegates to the house on Thursday to pay a condolence visit, adding that the group dropped a package for the family.

A family friend, Soretire Olajumoke, urged the police to make the outcome of the court case public.