How Customs planted machete, 2 bags of rice by my slain child to incriminate him, says Father

Oyedele Aladeotan, father of 19-year-old man, killed by a stray bullet of the Joint Border Patrol Team, said Customs officers attempted to incriminate his slain child by placing a machete in his hand and two bags of 50kg rice beside his lifeless body.

Kehinde Aladeotan, 19, an SS3 student was shot dead during a clash between security operatives of the Joint Border Patrol Team (JBPT) and suspected rice smugglers at Irosu Village near Badagry on June 19.

JBPT, which comprises Customs, Army and Immigration, was on routine patrol at Irosu Community near Sawa checkpoint around Owode-Apa Border post in search of smuggled foreign rice, following a tipoff.

Recounting his ordeal to NAN on Thursday, Mr Aladeotan, who hails from Ilaje in Ondo State but resides at Kankon, Badagry, maintained that his son was not a smuggler, nor did he know how to ride a bike.

Mr Aladeotan said his son met his untimely death when he ran into Customs’ anti-smuggling team who were chasing smugglers.

Kehinde, a twin, was returning from a canteen where he went to eat after picking coconut waste with his brother when Customs shot him in the neck, the distraught father said.

“After killing my son, they put a cutlass in his hand and two bags of 50kg foreign rice behind him to deceive the public that he was a smuggler

“They still insisted on taking my son’s corpse to their office, but I refused and maintained that they must give me my son’s corpse for burial,” he said.

Mr Aladeotan said it took the intervention of a top Air Force officer, Commodore Morakinyo Akinyode, the Commander of Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Forward Operations Base, Badagry, before the corpse of his son could be released.

“He was the only officer on the ground that day; he really assisted me and I am grateful to him and the Baale Abraham Lincoln too.

“I am grateful to the Chairman of Badagry West LCDA, Mr Joseph Gbenu, and his deputy too, they came to console me in spite of the heavy rainfall,” he said.

The distraught father rued how the life of his son was wasted without an opportunity to make his mark in life.

“I have since buried my son here at the back of my house, but it is more painful that despite my sufferings and struggling to see them through, I did not eat the fruit of my labour.

“Kehinde has no child, nothing to show for his existence in life; his death is a painful one.”

The father of seven appealed to the government to come to his aid by providing a stable job for him to train his remaining children.

He said he currently works as a security guard with Badagry Local Government, under contract and earns a meagre salary of N10,000 per month.

“I am not asking for any money in replacement of my dead son from the government.

“But, they can assist by placing me on regular work instead of the contract work I’m doing now.

“They can even assist my remaining six children in whatever way they can, so that the pains of my dead son will not kill me too,” he begged.