Odunayo Alade, father of the late Ibadan secondary school student revealed the 14-year-old son, Kehinde Alade, aspired to become a lawyer.
The incident happened on Tuesday along Gbagi Market road in Egbeda, Oyo State.
Kehinde, an SS1 student was killed by a stray bullet fired by a police officer while in his father’s car.
Reflecting on his son’s ambitions, Alade noted that Kehinde had recently switched from Science to Arts to pursue his dream of becoming a lawyer.
He recalled how he had initially purchased science textbooks for Kehinde and his twin, only for Kehinde to choose Arts to align with his legal aspirations.
He said: “As a matter of fact, he was telling me last week that he would like to be a lawyer. Before they resumed for first term in SS1, I bought their science textbooks for two of them separately.
“As they were resuming for the second term, he decided that he’s no longer interested in science. He said, ‘I want to become a lawyer.’ So, he went back to Art class. He was an Art student before this terrible thing happened,” he told News Central in an interview.
Alade also stated that he was driving Kehinde and his twin brother and their elder brother to school, taking a common neighborhood shortcut to ensure his older son, who was writing a WASSCE exam that morning, arrived on time.
As they approached the junction, OYRTMA officials blocked their vehicle and attempted to bypass them to avoid delays Alade said he maneuvered past multiple vehicles, unaware they were trying to stop him.
“I was taking the children to school yesterday morning, and at the entrance of my junction, just a stone’s throw, not up to one pole or two poles, to where we just followed and branched to a normal way. So as I came out, I had to gauge the tyre, then enter the road, but to my surprise, I saw OYRTMA officials.
“They blocked me, even jammed my vehicle. Then I had to reverse, try to bypass them. I didn’t know they were up to four or five. So, by cutting him off, another vehicle, it was a towing vehicle, hit my vehicle again. So I tried to pass through that one too, but I just maneuvered myself to cut them off.”
He added: “I didn’t know. It was when I entered through that road, one of them just came and jammed my vehicle. You know how Nigerian government works behave, you are on your own, once you fall into their traps, you understand?
“Moreover, the elder brother of the deceased was supposed to write WASSCE yesterday. He was having an 8.30am paper yesterday. So if I should stop then, they would delay the boy. So that’s why I just maneuvered and got on my way.
“They said I followed one way and I let them know that this is the road that everybody -all the neighbourhood-this is the way they are passing. A very short distance to the main junction. I won’t say it is one-way, because the place is a very short space. Very short, it’s not up to a pole. We just come out and then we follow the normal way down.”
Shortly after, a gunshot rang out, and Kehinde’s twin brother alerted him, shouting, ” ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.’ I was even shouting on him that ‘why are you shouting? We’ve left them so we are safe and there’s no problem.’ I didn’t know that the bullet hit the boy. It was his twin brother that said, ‘Daddy stop, he has been shot.” So, immediately I heard that, I parked and brought him out. The whole place was soaked with blood.”
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
