Shot musician arrested for having tattoos dies.
The family of a musician, Chinedu Obi, aka Zinquest, has been thrown into mourning after the personnel of the Ogun State Police Command shot him in the Sango area of the state.
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PUNCH Metro learnt that Obi, whom the police personnel accosted for having tattoos on his body, was protesting his arrest when the men of the Sango Area Command gunned him down on Friday, July 19, 2019.
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The musician, who was still alive after being shot, was accused of destroying the windscreens of over 17 vehicles parked on the premises of the area command while protesting his arrest.
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Footage making the rounds on social media showed the Delta State indigene lying in a pool of blood as he requested to contact his parents, but the people who gathered around him, instead of taking him to hospital for treatment, were condemning him for destroying the vehicle windscreens.
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A close friend of the deceased said on his Instagram handle, @therevolution_is_here, “They (police) never took him to hospital, neither did they communicate or allow Obi to communicate with any member of his family. Instead, they were taking pictures, making videos and ridiculing him until he bled to death.”
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The close friend’s statement read in part, “The police claimed that he found an axe, which he used in destroying the windscreens of several vehicles parked on the premises of the station. He was killed in cold blood by law enforcement officers of the Sango Area Division.
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“He died there and the video was leaked on social media three days after the incident happened. Meanwhile, the family sent lawyers there the same day that the video was released; but the police told the lawyers that Obi’s remains won’t be released until they pay for the damaged vehicles. Obi had some psychological stress but never deserved to be killed or left to die like an animal. These brutal killers must be dealt with.”
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Obi’s death has sparked condemnation on social media with many users criticising the police for deliberately neutralising the victim.