The Sagamu area of Ogun state was on lock down on Saturday after operatives the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) killed the assistant captain of Nigerian National League (NNL) side, Remo Stars.
The killing has engendered apprehension and pandemonium.
In a statement released by the club’s Media Officer, the Footballer was stop by SARS operative and profiled as a yahoo boy and when en route police station the operatives pushed the footballer out of their vehicle before he was hit by another speeding vehicle.
The statement reads as thus; “Remo Stars Football Club (RSFC) Assistant Captain and Defender, Tiyamu Kazeem (Kaka) has been killed by a policeman from the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) from the Ogun State Command.
“The incident occurred this afternoon (Saturday) in Sagamu while he was driving along Sagamu area of Ogun State with one of his teammates, Sanni Abubakar.
“According to an eyewitness, he claimed that the SARS officer stopped the footballer to label him a Yahoo Boy and they insisted on taking him to the nearby police station.
“The SARS officer stopped Tiyamiyu Kazeem insisting that he was a Yahoo Boy, he brought out his identity (ID) card to identify himself as a player of Remo Stars FC but the officer insisted on taking him to the nearest police station in Sagamu.”
“Tiyamiyu and Sanni obliged, followed the SARS officers, only for them to notice that they were driving towards Sagamu-Abeokuta Expressway, then the guys questioned to know were the SARS officers were taking them to, but this prompted them to stop the car and push him (Tiyamiyu) out of the car, whereby an unknowing vehicle knocked him down.”
“He was immediately rushed to Fakoya Hospital in Sagamu, where it was confirmed that Tiyamiyu Kazeem was no more.
“Until his death, he was a humble and reliable defender for Remo Stars FC in the ongoing 2019/2020 Nigeria National League (NNL).
“May his soul rest in perfect peace and may the Lord help the family to bear the irreparable loss, this is a great loss to Remo Stars Family and the entire football fraternity,” the statement read
The incident is coming two days after chaos ensued in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital, between Hausa traders and SARS officers over the death of a trader who was hit by a stray bullet.
SARS is a unit of the Nigerian police charged with foiling robberies and curbing its menace in the society, but the deviation from its primary assignment in recent years has turned them to the repulsive character they are expected to protect the citizenry from. The are fearsome and brutal with reports of arbitrary arrests, torture, dehumanisation and extra judicial kill attributed to them. There have been strident calls from Nigerians for the disbandment of the unit