Olufunke Odebiyi is the mother of a football fan, Kolade Johnson, who was watching a match between Liverpool and Tottenham in the Onipetesi area of Lagos State, when he was allegedly shot dead by a policeman, Olalekan Ogunyemi, attached to the Anti-Cultism Unit of the state police command in 2019. In this interview with DEJI LAMBO, she talks about life after the incident and the challenges of getting justice

How has life been ever since the tragic incident that led to the death of your son?

Since Kolade died, I have known no joy. Before his death, I talked to him on the phone for almost 20 minutes and we concluded on doing something together during the week, but what I got was the news of his death. Up till now, when I sit down alone, I will just be shedding tears. We were always together; even when he attended the University of Benin, I used to go and check him; then from UNIBEN, he travelled to South Africa and when he came back, instead of me to enjoy the fruit of my labour, they took him away suddenly.

On the day your son was killed, where were you and how were you informed?

I used to call all my children every day, but that Sunday, I had pain all over my body and could not call them. I managed to go to church and during service, the pastor said we should all pray against stray bullets and I prayed, but it was on that same day that my son was shot dead.  Around noon on Sunday, Kolade’s sister, Remilokun, called to inform me that she wanted to see me on Monday, so I told her to come early because I would be leaving the house early for Alausa. I woke up early and after preparing, I called my daughter around 7am to know if she was still coming, and she told me she was on her way.

“I used to listen to newspaper headlines on radio but I don’t know why I didn’t listen to the radio that day. Maybe it was because I was not just comfortable. That morning, I saw my daughter parked in front of the house; I also saw Pastor Bolu and two elders from my church. I quickly asked what happened and they all said nothing. When we got inside, I was told to sit down, but I refused and asked what happened again and one of them mentioned Kolade’s name; I asked what happened to him, and that was how they gave me the bad news.

Can you explain how you felt that very moment when they broke the bad news to you?

I cannot explain how I felt that day because I had not experienced such before. We do have a programme in my church, which usually starts at 6am, and to meet up, I do leave my house around 5am every day to pray for my children. We also hold a programme in the church from January, which is 40 days of prayer; I never missed any. I asked my God if Kolade had sinned, why didn’t He think of all my efforts and spare him, but immediately I had to beg God for forgiveness because I cannot judge him.

How has Kolade’s son, Tyron, been coping without a father?

We are waiting for the government; all I do is to sell sachet water and I don’t have any power to send the boy anywhere. President Muhammadu Buhari and the former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, talked about Kolade Johnson when he was killed. The Governor of Lagos State and the former Commissioner of Police paid me condolence visits and they assured me of getting justice for my son, but nothing has been done. The case is still in court, but I am tired of it because nothing good has come out of it.

With the current state of things, do you believe you can get justice for your son?

Since I don’t have a godfather in Nigeria, how can I get justice over my son’s death? I don’t have anybody, but I know that I have God. I don’t believe there is justice in Nigeria.

What does justice mean to you?

What justice means to me is that the right thing should be done at the right time. My son was killed, his son lives on, so they should give justice at the right time.

As someone whose son was a victim, what is your reaction to Nigerians, who have used the #EndSARS protests to condemn police brutality and extrajudicial killings in the country?

I thank all of them; these SARS men used to kill people anyhow. If you search on Google, you will get a lot of information about what happened to my son and how the SARS men treat people. The #EndSARS protesters tried a lot; it was just those, who attacked the unarmed protesters at the Lekki tollgate and other places that changed everything and caused trouble. A lot of people were happy about the protests.

What message do you have for the government concerning the state of the Nigeria Police Force?

The only thing I can say is that the government should send the majority of the police personnel on training, because most of them have turned guns into toys and they can shoot at any time. They don’t want to know whether it is bad or not, they just shoot anyhow. They will see an armed robber and run away, but they will be killing innocent people. So, I suggest that the government must retrain them.

Can you tell us what people don’t know about Kolade Johnson?

All over the world, people talked about the incident that led to his death; he was my last child and very caring. He was very gentle and did not like trouble. But his death exposed me to the world in a very bad way.

What message do you have for members of the public?

I want the public to help me because I don’t have any power; Kolade is gone, but he left a son behind and I don’t have any other source of livelihood other than the sachet water that I sell. I want justice and I don’t want his death to be in vain.

By Olufunke Odebiyi