A seven-month pregnant lady was shot and killed at the Arepo area of Ogun State as the battle between oil vandals and members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), guiding the oil pipelines, entered its second day. The lady, identified as Mrs. Damilola Fajana, who got married last year, was killed as she left the hospital bedside of her sick husband.
She was said to be on her way home to get something for her husband. She was cut in the crossfire between the OPC men and the vandals, who wore Army camouflage uniforms and tied red bandanas. A witness said the woman would have probably survived if she had received prompt medical attention. According to him, the OPC men did not allow a Good Samaritan to take the woman to the hospital. He said: “The woman was riding in a car. One street before hers the man who was driving another car saw the shot that hit her in the neck. But OPC men prevented the driver from taking her to the hospital.
“A policewoman later intervened. The deceased was taken to a private hospital which refused to admit her. She gave up on the way to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital LASUTH). Sympathisers dashed to the hospital where her husband was on admission to break the tragic news to him. The man fainted on hearing that his less than a year bride and pregnant wife was dead. Doctors who were duty were said to have battled to resuscitate him. A mobile policeman, who was also shot, is now at undisclosed hospital, battling to stay alive.
Frightened residents have remained indoors, as the vandals were said to have started setting buildings on fire, including a police post. The residents said they were tired of living in fear. The residents explained that the vandals, who stormed the community in a commando style, were on a reprisal mission to avenge the killing of one of their colleagues.
The said colleague was allegedly killed by the OPC guarding the pipelines on Sunday. The reprisal attack started on Monday, but snowballed on Wednesday, leading to Damilola’s killing. She was said to have been killed, as the vandals making their way to the river bank shot indiscriminately. Another resident said: “The lady killed was a lawyer. She was returning from the hospital, where she went to visit her husband who had been on the sickbed for some days, when they killed her. The woman was making a U-turn to her residence on Duru Street, Beachland Estate, when the unfortunate bullet hit her in the neck.”
Another resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the vandals started screaming as they were shooting. He said: “They screamed that they did not want OPC in the community. They said they were comfortable with mobile policemen attached to the area.
After shooting for a while, they went straight to the security post and set it ablaze. Due to the incessant attacks in the area, some of the landlords have packed out of their buildings, relocating to other areas.” The OPC National Coordinator, Gani Adams, refused to comment on the issue.
His Personal Assistant in charge of Media, Segun Akanni, neither picked his calls nor responded to messages sent to his mobile number on the killing. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, neither confirmed nor denied the incident. He promised to contact our correspondent when he learnt the details. The PPRO, however, did not call at press time.
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