A teenage Nigerian boy identified as Olapade Ezekiel was shot dead at a palm-wine shop where he was sitting with his father and other customers in Ilobu, Osun State.
TheNewsGuru reports that a group of gunmen stormed the shop after arriving in a Sienna bus and starting to shoot sporadically; the teenager was hit and died on the spot.
The incident occurred at the shop along Council Road, near the Irepodun Local Government Area headquarters.
Ezekiel’s father, Olugbenga Olapade, later reported the incident at the Ilobu Police Division, disclosing that his son had died from sustained gunshot injuries. Another man, identified as Matthew John, popularly known as Mofoto, was also shot and injured.
Nearly four months after the incident, the Osun State Police Command announced on Friday that it had arrested five suspects in connection with the killing.
The suspects were identified as Saheed Kareem, 32, also known as Tanfiani; Ismail Yekeen, 24, known as Asumo Ayan; Abass Afeez, 32, popularly called SS Abass; Salako Taofeek, 30, known as Fenuso; and Abdulrauf Ogunshola, described by the police as a barrister.
In a statement issued on October 16, the police said the suspects had confessed to participating in the crime.
The command added that the other suspects identified Fenuso as the person who allegedly fired the shot that killed the teenager.
According to the police, Fenuso also identified a man known as Alaagba, who remains at large, as the alleged armourer and custodian of the firearm used during the attack.
The police said efforts were ongoing to arrest Alaagba.
The command, through its spokesperson, Abiodun Ojelabi, said investigators would rely on credible evidence, forensic findings and other investigative procedures to establish the circumstances surrounding the killing and the individual roles of those involved.
