It was a dream cut short. A bungled hope. The brightness in the family of the Opobiyis in Ilorin, Kwara State suddenly turned into eternal darkness with the killing of their son, Muyideen Mustapha Opobiyi.

The young man, whose life may have been on the service lane, finally got it terminated and dispatched out of the earth by some hot lead. Muyideen’s father, Alhaji Mustapha Oke-Odo Opobiyi, in tearful eyes declared that it was the police that killed his 23-year-old son.

Pa Opobiyi narrated how he had been labouring to train his son who just completed his secondary school education about six months ago at Command Day Secondary School, Maitama, Abuja.

Whilst waiting for the opportunity to further his studies, Muyideen had returned to Ilorin, his birthplace, three months ago. Not wanting to be loafing about in idleness, he convinced his father to allow him undertake computer training. His father agreed.

He got enrolled at the Da’rul Salam Computer Training Institute of Information and Technology, Ilorin. The young man was said to have been enthusiastic and boastful of acquiring computer education and was keen on flouting his niche over his classmates at Abuja. 

His joy knew no bounds when the computer training programme finally came to an end on Saturday, the New Year eve. But fate, nay “enemies” would not allow him revel in his joy and hope of a better tomorrow. Just three days, yes three days after completing the programme, a flying bullet completed his sojourn here on earth. He was mowed down by a hot bullet. Who fired the bullet?

The police have however denied firing the bullet that killed Muyideen, whom sources said, was not part of those protesting the removal of subsidy on petrol.

But Pa Opobiyi was pointedly declarative: “the police killed my son”, he announced, adding that the autopsy carried out on the body of the victim at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) showed that he died of bullet wound. So who dun it?

Pa Opobiyi, drawing from the stoic disposition of a Muslim, however said he had accepted the ill fate that befell his son as the will of Allah. But he insists that his surrender to the will of the supernatural does not preclude the demand for justice.

He therefore said: “We, the members of the family are after justice.”
He argued that it is only the identification and punishment of the perpetrator of such evil act (through judicious prosecution) that could serve as a lesson to others who always feel that they are above the law when in uniform.

Most of the sympathisers at the burial of the deceased have called on the appropriate authorities to investigate the incident.
Muyideen was buried in a cemetery along Asa Dam road, Ilorin amidst wailing and tears.

But the police have denied being responsible for the killing of Muyideen. The police had alleged on Tuesday that the late Muyideen met his death in the hands of the protesters when he refused to join the protest. It was a tale that many disputed. But if the police thought the killing of Muyideen will scare other protesters out of the streets, they were dazed Wednesday when the protests not only continued but got even wild.

The protesters had made bonfires on major streets of Ilorin, in areas such as Sabo Line, Murtala Mohammed Road (housing media offices in Ilorin), Maraba, Amilengbe, Opo Malu, Ojagboro and Okelele. They confronted security men who were shooting guns and tear gas to disperse them, while the protesters pelted the police with stones and bottles.

Meanwhile, the immediate past chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, Comrade Emmanuel Ayeoribe, has further affirmed that the police murdered Muyideen.

Ayeoribe, who said that the NLC would immortalise the young man, added that the labour union would start a coordinated protest with picketing and other actions when the NLC boss in the state returned from the NEC meeting in Abuja.

He faulted the claim by the police that the protesters were hoodlums and demanded that the police should allow people to exercise their constitutional rights of protesting.

But the Kwara State Police Commissioner Peter Gana argued that many of the criminals had hidden under the guise of the anti-subsidy protests to visit mayhem on innocent Nigerians by looting and robbing people of their prized possessions including cash and handsets.   

But the labour leader condemned the  killing of the protester and the accompanying intimidation and called on the people not to be intimidated or rest until the government policy on the oil deregulation was reverted.  
The development led many banks and other business outlets to close abruptly for fear of being attacked by the protesters.
All the major streets in the state capital were deserted as vehicular movement were restricted.