Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have reportedly drowned a 32-year-old man, Dapo Olasore, in the Agboyi, Alapere area of Lagos State on Sunday, September 13, 2015.
Olasore reportedly wanted to board a canoe to see a relative at a neighbouring community when the NDLEA officials invaded the place in two unmarked vans and indiscriminately shot into the air.
This prompted residents to scamper for safety and the officials reportedly held him by the trousers at the riverside before he fell into the water in his escape bid.
It was gathered that the officials allegedly threatened a boatman with guns when he tried to save him.
The deceased, popularly known as Omopo, was a Law graduate from a university in Ondo State, joined the National Union of Road Transport Workers in 2014, when he could not get a job.
Narrating the incident, a witness and friend of the victim, Tosin Oshin, said, “It happened around 10.45am. We suddenly saw two white vehicles in our community. They began shooting into the air and everybody started running helter-skelter.
“They went to the riverside, where Omopo (Olasore) was about boarding a canoe. As Omopo saw one of them, he wanted to run like other people, but the officers held him. In the struggle to free himself, he fell into the river.
“A boat operator, who was about to rescue him, was threatened with guns. Omopo raised his hand and asked for help, but they didn’t help him.”
Corroborating the narration, the boat operator, Dayo Seun, said: “I was on the other side of the river when I saw the man fall inside the river. I quickly paddled my canoe to the place he fell into to rescue him, but they pointed their guns at me, and asked me to go back.”
Another resident identified as Omolara Adekunle, said the NDLEA officials were always harassing residents.
He said: “It is not only the NDLEA that come here to conduct this illegal raid. The police too are complicit; they have no fear of God.
“Those they arrest, they collect between N40, 000 to N45,000 from their relatives before they release them.”
The NDLEA spokesperson, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, confirmed that there was a raid on the community by the agency, but denied knowledge that anybody was drowned.
He said, “The NDLEA went in search of a notorious drug dealer, named Saheed, following an information on his activities, which has constituted nuisance to people in that neighbourhood.
“Unfortunately, we did not find him as of the time of getting to the place. One Babalola was arrested and he was found with 1.3 kilogrammes of cannabis. During the operation, some people escaped through the river because they knew their activities contravened the NDLEA Act. But we are not aware anybody drowned.”
