Vandi asked me to replace his bullet – inspector

A police officer, Inspector Sunday Akagu, told the Supreme Court of Lagos State on Thursday, sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos Island, how Assistant Superintendent of Police Drambi Vandi, the suspected murderer of a Lagos-based lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem, asked him for a bullet to replace his own after he shot the woman on Christmas Day.

Vandi is on trial for one murder, which the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, has elected against him.

He was arraigned on January 16, 2023 and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

At the trial’s resumed hearing on Thursday, Akagu, the prosecution’s sixth witness, told what happened after Vandi shot Raheem in the chest.

The witness, led in evidence by Onigbanjo, said his colleague asked for a bullet to replace his because it was incomplete after the shooting.

“While I went to the police station, the defendant (Drambi Vandi) said ‘Odogwu’ that is my nickname, ‘Help me with one ammunition’ and I said, ‘No, where shall I replace it? Why shall I give you my ammunition?’ I was provoked and told my colleagues what he asked,” he added.

When Onigbanjo asked if he had granted his colleague’s request, he replied, “No, about my dead body.”

The prosecution’s seventh witness, Olatunji Olagunju, the investigating police officer on the case before handing it over to the state detective, Yaba, said he was at the station around 1:00 PM when Enema Titilayo (the sister of the deceased) “went to the station ran and reported a case of conspiracy and shooting.”

Olagunju told the court that he was part of the team that drove to the three hospitals to which the deceased had been referred before her death.

“We called the police and took her body to Yaba Specialist Hospital and deposited her body,” he added.

Recounting his meeting with the defendant, Olagunju said he “saw him hiding under a staircase” in the hospital.

In the course of his investigation, the witness said that “the statement of the accused was taken with due caution while the statement of the complainant was taken voluntarily.”

“Before handing over the case, I discovered during my investigation that the defendant fired the gun and at the same time his ammunition was not complete.

“From the moment of his arrest I saw him with a civilian top on police pants,” he added.

During cross-examination, the defendant’s attorney asked, “Did the prosecution say she saw him shoot?”

‘She knows him. She didn’t mention his name because she didn’t know his name. She already held him hostage at the Ajah bridge,” the witness replied.

When asked how many officers went to the first hospital, he said eight, contrary to the testimony of the first witness, who said five.

When asked to name their names, the witness explained that he was recently posted to the division and was not familiar with their names.

“Would it surprise you if one of those who went with the DPO said it was only five?” asked the lawyer.

“That’s not true. There were eight of us,” he replied.

He said that after Raheem was pronounced dead at the third hospital, three police officers took her body to a morgue.

Speaking of the “three cases” that led him to conclude that it was his colleague who killed Raheem, he said, “When the gun was shot, the deceased’s husband came down and detained the officer and took him to Budo ( the first hospital). ) hospital.

“The second case was that two (officers) out of three were holding weapons that day. When they brought their weapons to the station, only Sup Vandi’s gun was short of two rounds, while the other was complete.

“The third is that the policeman hid under a staircase and changed his uniform with a gun in hand.”

Justice Ibironke Harrison adjourned the case to February 8 and 9 for the trial to continue.