IGP disbands Zonal Intervention Squad over Remo Stars footballer’s death
Following the death of a Remo Stars FC footballer, Kazeem Tiyamiu, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has disbanded the Zonal Intervention Squad national wide.
Represented by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), Peter Ogunyonwo, the IGP disclosed this when he accompanied Governor Dapo Abiodun on a visit to the parents of the deceased on Tuesday in Sagamu.
He added that their offices have also been handed over to the State Police Command.
The DIG said that the death of Tiyamiyu would prompt the police to carry out more reforms, insisting that the officers involved, who have since been arrested, were on illegal duty and did not obtain clearance from the police formation in Sagamu before the operation.
It would be recalled that some police officers from the ZIS unit in Abeokuta had arrested the footballer, and thereafter allegedly pushed him to his death on Saturday.
In the wake of the incident, the police commissioner in Ogun state ordered the arrest of the yet-to-be-identified officer.
The incident triggered a protest in Sagamu on Monday as residents took to the streets to express their anger. At least, one person was killed in the ensuing face-off between the protesters and the police.
During the visit to the parents of the late footballer, Ogunyonwo pledged that a full investigation would be carried out to bring those involved to justice just as the Force would do everything possible to purge itself of “trigger-happy elements”.
Abiodun, in his remarks, appealed to the people of Sagamu to eschew violence and not give criminals opportunity to perpetrate their acts.
He promised to use every instrument of government available to unearth the circumstances surrounding the killing and the crisis caused in the town.
“We will use every means possible, not only to ensure that justice is served, but that it is seen to have been served. We’ll ensure that this will be the last of such avoidable deaths in the hands of security officers in our state,” he said.
Others who accompanied the governor were the Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Kenneth Ebrimson, and the State Director of the State Security Services, David Tuska.
