‘The car have no number plate’ — police witness recounts stop-and-search that led to Raheem Bolanle’s death
Matthew Ahmed, a police inspector attached to the Ajah division of Lagos state, has testified in the trial of Drambi Vandi, the officer involved in the murder of Raheem Bolanle.
Ahmed appeared before Ibironke Harrison, the presiding judge of a Lagos high court, on Monday.
He was one of the three officers deployed to Ajah underbridge on December 25, 2022, when Bolanle was allegedly shot dead by Vandi while returning from a Christmas outing with her family.
Prior to Ahmed’s testimony, Vandi had earlier pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of murder filed against him by the Lagos state government.
When the hearing began, Moyosore Onigbanjo, attorney-general of Lagos, who heads the prosecution team, introduced Ahmed as the first witness in the case.
Giving his account of the event, Ahmed said he and two other police officers — Inspector Ebieme and Vandi — were on duty when the incident occurred.
“While we were at the duty post at Ajah underbridge, we were conducting stop and search,” he recounted.
“Inspector Ebieme was at the front while I stood in the middle, and SUPOL Vandi was the last man at the back.
“Inspector Ebieme flagged down a car… the car did not stop, I also flagged down the car, the car did not stop for me.
“After that, the next thing I heard was a gunshot. I looked back to see what is happening, I saw a car in which the front window was falling down.
“The next thing I saw is that one black woman jumped down from the vehicle. She held SUPOL Vandi and she said ‘oga, you have killed my sister’.
“The woman held him. The next thing, they entered the car and they all zoomed off.”
Ahmed said he and Ebieme left the scene after the deceased’s husband drove away.
He said Vandi was later brought to the Ajah police station after which three of them were asked to write statements on what transpired.
“What was the type of car flagged down on the day of the incident?” Onigbanjo asked.
“The car was a Toyota vehicle and it had no plate number,” Ahmed responded.
“Toyota produced so many vehicles. What type of Toyota vehicle?” the attorney-general asked.
“I don’t know,” the police officer said.
“How many people were in the car when it was flagged down?” Onigbanjo asked
“I saw people in the car. I don’t know how many people were in the car because it did not stop,” Ahmed responded.
Onigbanjo queried further: “Please clarify, the car does not have number plate or you did not see the number plate.”
“It had no number plate,” the police officer maintained.
The police inspector was also cross-examined by Odutola Adetokunbo, the counsel to the defendant.
During the cross-examination, Adetokunbo asked Ahmed to differentiate between a gunshot and noise. The defence counsel said the police inspector wrote in his statement that he heard a noise after he flagged down the car of the deceased’s husband.
The police inspector responded that he heard a gunshot from his back.
The trial judge subsequently granted the request of both parties to accelerate the hearing and adjourned the case to January 25 and 26.