Police shot me, Omoyele Sowore insists

Former Presidential candidate and convener of #RevolutionNowMovement, Omoyele Sowore has insisted that officers of the Nigerian police force shot him in Abuja on Monday.

Sowore stated this on Tuesday after he was discharged from the hospital he was rushed to insisting that claims by the police that he was not shot were untrue.

However, the FCT Police Command declared that Sowore was not shot.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the FCT, ASP Mariam Yusuf, in a statement, said, “there is no record of such incident”, stating that police officers skillfully reinstated peace at the Unity Fountain, venue of the protest.

Sowore asserted that after he was shot, police officers further tried to scare protesters away so that they would not rescue him.

He said, “Femi Falana’s ASCAB invited us to a protest against growing insecurity in the country. I left home alongside other friends. Upon approaching the venue, we received intelligence that the police had locked the gate.

“We explained to them (police officers) that it is within our rights to protest. We told them that it was wrong to shut the gate of the venue against us but they refused. We reached the Commissioner of Police. He responded that he had no hand in it.

“When I looked back, I discovered that between three and five trucks loaded with police officers had arrived at the scene. We started singing solidarity songs and began to stream live on social media. From nowhere, a policewoman came and approached me with a federal riot gun.

“It is used in shooting projectiles or tear gas. It is not meant to be used to shoot persons. At such a close range, she looked at me and said ‘Sowore, you are the one that is here’. She shot at me. I started to bleed. I noticed that blood was running underneath my trousers. I couldn’t walk again.

“Upon being on the ground, she instructed her men to shoot their tear gas in our direction, apparently to prevent people from saving me. But the two men beside me rushed me to the hospital. On our way to the hospital, I discovered that my thigh was swelling and expanding.

“We got halfway into the public hospital before deciding to go to a private hospital. When we discovered that one hospital couldn’t manage my level of pains, we went to another private hospital.”