Too Bad! Cultists Shoot Young Footballer Dead In Lagos

A 27-year-old footballer, Damilola popularly known as Bebo, has been shot dead by suspected cultists. He was attacked by three men around 7pm at a carwash near Greenland junction at Abesan Estate in Mosan-Okunola Local Council Development Area  (LCDA) of Lagos. He was going to get drugs after a football match when he was shot. The police were said to have deposited his body in a morgue.

His friends and colleagues described him as calm and easy going. Until his death, he reportedly lived alone at Federal Estate following his parents and siblings relocation abroad. His grandmother, it was learnt, lives in Ota, Ogun State.

The busy spot where he was killed was deserted yesterday when The Nation visited. A meat seller packed and left on being informed of the incident. He said he was unaware of the incident because he didn’t sell on the fateful day.

“I didn’t know they killed someone. I just got here now to find out everyone did not open. I’m leaving right away. I can’t be the only one out in a situation like this,” he said.

One Abayomi, who witnessed the incident said, he and Bebo played football together on Greenland Field. He said Bebo left his boots and shin guards with him to get food at a nearby canteen. No sooner had he left the field than they heard gunshots in the area. The cultists had been in the area before to trail him, Abayomi said.

“We normally play football on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We played together yesterday in the same group. After we finished, we all went out and sat down beside the field. He pulled off his boot and went to a restaurant very close to the field. He ate rice and after eating, he said he wanted to buy drugs by the carwash close to the field. The next thing we heard was a gunshot. So everyone rushed to our side wondering what happened. But before we knew what happened, we saw Bebo already down in a pool of blood.

“Some people said they saw him with some three guys. They greeted each other but after greeting the third person, he shot him in the head at a very close range. Before they rushed him to a nearby hospital here, the Doctor refused him, they rushed him to another private hospital at the gate, the doctor also rejected him. Then they took him to the general hospital, but he gave up on the way.

“So they now returned him to the same spot where he was killed. It was a very painful thing. The bullet opened his head. You can see how everywhere is silent, nobody can come out. We normally train here. I had to call most of my friends that come from other areas not to come. But those who did not hear about the incident still came this morning and we went to the second field to train.”

He described the deceased as a friend and a brother.

“A very gentle person, he doesn’t fight. He is a very nice guy but I believe there is something fishy everyone does not know. It is obvious that what happened is on a cultist level,” he said.

It was learnt that the police invited some boys in the area for interrogation.

Mr Emeka, a regular face at the field said Bebo was always around the field since childhood. He said people generally converged on the field to smoke and chit-chat.  He said though appeared gentle whenever he came around, he might be threading hard path unknown to people.