By Paul Joseph
The Lagos State Police Command has detained an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Omotayo Olajide, after his firearm discharged during a police operation in Ajegunle, killing a young girl and injuring another.
The incident occurred on Thursday, November 5, 2026, between 9:30 pm and 10 pm in the Nosamu area of Ajegunle, when police officers responded to a violent clash between two rival groups identified as the Nosamu Boys and Alayabiagba Boys.
The groups were reportedly engaged in a dispute over toll collection and armed with cutlasses and other dangerous weapons when the police received a distress call and deployed personnel to the area.
According to a statement issued on Saturday by the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Adebisi, ASP Olajide discharged his firearm during the operation, with the bullet striking two girls.
Both victims were immediately rushed to Ajeromi General Hospital for treatment. However, one of them, identified as Omole Taiwo, was later transferred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, where she died.
The second girl is reportedly receiving medical attention and is in stable condition.
Following the incident, the police said Olajide had been disarmed and taken into custody, while the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.
The command said the investigation would establish the circumstances surrounding the shooting and determine appropriate legal and disciplinary measures.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Tijani Fatai, subsequently visited the bereaved family to express condolences over the death of Taiwo and assured them that the investigation would be thorough.
He also pledged that any officer found responsible for the incident would not be protected from accountability.
However, the police statement did not clarify whether the officer intentionally fired at the rival groups, whether the girls were caught in the line of fire or whether the weapon discharged accidentally.
The incident has also revived memories of a similar shooting in Ajegunle in April 2019, when a 20-year-old woman, Ada Ifeanyi, was killed and another man, Emmanuel Akomafuwa, sustained injuries.
Following that incident, Inspector Dania Ojo was declared wanted, while five other police officers were arrested. Ojo was subsequently dismissed from the force after an investigation found him guilty of abusing his authority and unlawfully using his firearm.
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