The Police Vs Funmilayo Abudu

Comfort Obi

May I start by expressing my condolence to the children and husband of Funmilayo Abudu, the woman who was shot dead by the Police in Sagamu, Ogun State, penultimate Friday, during a shoot-out between the police and armed robbers who had laid siege on a First Bank Plc branch. And this is without prejudice to the investigation ordered by Mike Okiro, the Inspector-General of Police, into her true identity. Was she an armed robber, or an innocent woman who was mistakenly shot by the police during the exchange of fire? Indeed, even if she turned out to be an armed robber, as alleged by the police, I would still have extended my sympathy to her children and husband, especially to her children. They may not have known her well.
So, what is Funmilayo Abudu’s story.
On Friday, December 12, armed robbers had gone to the Sagamu branch of First Bank Plc in broad daylight. That has become our lot in Nigeria. Nowhere is safe for anybody. From the office, house, worship place, to along the roads, everyone is in deep trouble. Not even police stations are safe. On a couple of occasions, armed robbers had raided police stations, and police barracks, and made away with arms, ammunition and properties. In one of the most bizarre incidents about two years ago or so, a man being pursued by armed robbers(?) along the Issele-Uku-Asaba Road, drove like thunder into the Issele-Uku Police Station to escape the gun-totting boys. But they pursued him to the station and shot him dead. A couple of weeks ago, armed robbers raided the official residence of the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, and in the process, killed a policeman. The violent raid on banks has become an everyday business. No matter what security measures the banks manage to put up, these armed robbers seem several steps ahead. Their first targets are policemen who guard the banks.
It is easy to blame the police for not standing up to the armed robbers. The question we forget to ask is: how well-equipped are the police to confront the very sophisticated and digital robbers? These guys move in groups, of atimes 50 persons, carrying sophisticated weapons, most not available to the police. The truth is that our policemen fight bare-handed, almost. They face bullets with little or nothing. In this wretched state they have found themselves, they still face armed robbers, and have done so successfully several times. The roots to a better policing of our society lies in the proper funding of the police. But it is story for another day.
So, armed robbers stormed the First Bank Plc in Sagamu. On a distress call, the police responded, and engaged them in a shoot-out. A number of the robbers escaped into the bush, amidst deafening shootings from both sides. When it was over, one of the bodies recovered in the bush was that of Funmilayo Abudu. And that’s where the controversy started.
The police, while giving a brief on the incident, told the public that Funmilayo Abudu was the leader of the robbery gang. For good measure, her body was paraded with charms and amulets. This must be good music to the ears of those Nigerians who always tell those, atimes, fictitious stories of seeing women leading armed robbery gangs. I once was a witness to an armed robbery attack along the Shagamu road a couple of years back. It was like a war front. Those young boys were shooting like bullets and guns were going out of business. And we all made a Ben-Johnson into the bush abandoning cars and everything we had on us. One woman was so shaken she poo-poohed on herself. I vouch there was no woman amongst that cursed gang that day because we saw them – nine boys driving three flashy cars. But the next day, the story was that a woman was in front, carrying two guns, and shooting! But I digress.
So, Funmilayo was alleged to be the leader of the gang. But no sooner the allegation was made than both her family and her employers hit the roof. They angrily put a lie to the police story, and accused the police of planting charms on her to give the impression that she was, indeed, an armed robber. Funmilayo, they said, was a staff of Demirs Farms. Her boss, Rasaq Asiwaju, insists that he sent her to a nearby filling station to buy fuel for their generator. While on her way, she ran into the armed robbery scene, and like others, ran into the bush to take cover. To give credence to his claims, he said while in hiding, Funmilayo phoned some of her colleagues and told them not to dare outside and to lock the office gates. At a press conference organised by an NGO, The Real Woman Foundation, her husband, Waniyu Abudu, cried out: “My wife is not a thief. If a woman is a thief, her husband will know and vice versa.” His plea: The police should remove the stigma put on the family and release her corpse to him for a befitting burial.” Her 10-year-old daughter, Shalewa, said in tears: “Our mother was not a robber. She was the one that normally warned us not to steal.”
These are very grave claims. If Funmilayo was not an armed robber, as claimed by the police, it will be sad. A grave and an irreparable injustice has been done to her and her family. Not only have her husband and children lost a loved one in such a violent circumstance, they now have to bear the stigma of her being labeled an armed robber. Okiro, following the controversy, has promised a thorough investigation. He should. It is important that the truth be established. Did she phone her colleagues as claimed by her boss? It is easy to cross-check through the Mobile Network she was using.
On a number of occasions, members of the public had accused the police of planting evidence against innocent citizens, especially after they had been killed in cold blood. Funmilayo’s case offers a good opportunity to confirm or disprove this. Was she innocent or guilty? If innocent, those who planted the incriminating evidence on her body would not only have committed a crime, they have also desecrated the dead, and put a stigma on an innocent family. And the sad thing, if she was innocent: Criminalising her was unnecessary. She was not deliberately killed. In the confusion where bullets were flying, and people ran helter-skelter, anybody could have been shot. An honest admission of the unavoidable shooting, an apology, and a compensation to the family would have put an end to the controversy. If, however, she was guilty, that will be sad, especially for her husband and children who have given good testimonies of her. So, the truth please!