The wife of a Kaduna-based hip-hop musician, Stanley Ukpabio, popularly called Desty Randy by his fans, has narrated how the police allegedly deliberately shot her husband in the stomach over the weekend at Mando area of Kaduna when he was reportedly mistaken for a suspected criminal being hunted by the police.
However, the spokesman of Kaduna police command, Aminu Lawal who insisted that Randy is a robbery suspect, denied the accusation.
"Nobody shot at him, my friend. Police did not shoot him. There was information of criminal activities around Mando where he (Stanley) stays and he is a suspect," Mr Lawal said.
"When he was to be interrogated, he invited his colleagues who overpowered the police. He resisted arrest and it was then that he sustained injury. The police did not shoot at him as claimed."
He said the artiste is in an hospital where he is being treated under police surveillance "because he is still a suspect."
Christabel Ukpabio, who was with her husband at the Barau Dikko Memorial Hospital, narrated to NEXT that the x-ray conducted on her husband showed that he was actually shot, as a bullet was removed from his body by the doctor after he was operated upon.
Although the hospital authorities declined any comment on the matter, a doctor at the hospital who craved for anonymity confirmed that a bullet was, indeed, removed from Randy's stomach.
"When the victim was operated upon, a bullet was removed from his body, but we are not in the position to say they shot him, since we were not there," he said.
"Meanwhile, we are not going to release the bullet to the police or the family of the victim except there is going to be a court order to release the bullet that was removed from his body".
Community of Randys
Japhet Adoga, a close friend of the musician who witnessed the incident, also narrated how it happened.
"On Wednesday August 3, 2011 at about 5.30am, I called him (Desty Randy) and he said he was sleeping and I asked if he heard that the police are looking for anybody bearing the name of Randy in Mando, since there are about three persons bearing the same name in Mando. But my friend, Desty Randy said he was not aware of the police looking for him," Mr Adoga said.
"Consequently, the chief of Mando, who coincidentally bears the same name Randy with Ukpabio, invited him to his house in other to ascertain the actual person the police were looking for. As he arrived the chief's house where the police were already waiting, four policemen on mufti and with ‘Operation Yaki' bullet proof jacket, asked, are you Randy? He said yes. Immediately, they handcuffed him and as he was being interrogated, one of the overzealous policemen pulled out his pistol and shot Randy on the stomach.
"As he fell down on the floor shouting in pain, the policeman immediately dropped the gun on the floor as a cover up when his colleague asked him why he shot Randy. Even the chief was rattled when Randy was shot. They later bundled him inside their vehicle and took him to hospital".
The presence of the police at the hospital where the victim is on admission has become controversial. This was not helped by the decision to bar journalists and other groups from visiting the suspect on his hospital bed.
However, the wife, who wept profusely as she narrated her husband's ordeal, said the family would institute a court action against the police to ensure justice is done. She claimed that her husband is an innocent person who is widely known in the entertainment industry as a credible person.
Meanwhile, performing artistes in Kaduna State have threatened to embark on a peaceful demonstration over the treatment meted against by their colleague by the police. The musicians, who besieged the premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Kaduna, are demanding the prosecution of the policeman that shot their colleague.
234next.com
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