OP-Mesa operative ‘kills okada rider over N20’

The community of Ijaiye Ojokoro was yesterday thrown into confusion after the leader of a Lagos state crime fighting outfit, Operation Mesa (OP-MESA), allegedly shot and killed a commercial motorcycle operator also known as okada rider.
Shops and schools in the community which were opened earlier in the day shut down hurriedly as hooligans and okada riders teamed up to do battle with the OP-Mesa operatives.
As at press time, the shops had refused to re-open due to the tension in the community.
An eyewitness told Blueprint that trouble started when a member of OP- MESA demanded money from the rider at about 10 am.
The eyewitness who has a boutique in the Shopping Complex in the area, said: “The rider said he didn’t have anything on him and that he was just starting work for the day. Just as he was pleading, the OP Mesa man opened fire on him killing him instantly.”
There was uproar in the area as some Okada riders and hoodlums mobilised and went after the OP Mesa vehicle which fled after the fatal shooting.
Luck however ran out of the OP Mesa team when men of the Ojokoro Police Station, chased them. While some of the officers were arrested others escaped.
A few hours after the incident, Mr. Tunde Sobulo, a deputy commissioner of police, led his men to pick up members of the OP-MESA team from Ojokoro Police Station where they were initially detained and undergoing interrogation.
They were taken to State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba for further interrogation.
As at the time of filing this report the identity of the officer that pulled the trigger had not been established, but those arrested were said to be Air Force personnel attached to security outfit.
Residents in the community said the extortion by the police and men of OP Mesa were not strange in the area.
“They mount roadblocks everywhere and collect N20 from okada riders and N50 from commercial bus drivers,” a resident who craved anonymity said.