While Idongesit died on the spot, Godwin was said to be in a critical condition at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where he was taken for treatment.
The couple was returning from a church programme in a tricycle belonging to the family.
The incident happened on Wednesday. According to PUNCH, Godwin met a police checkpoint at Obalagbe bus stop, where some tricycle drivers were being reportedly extorted by an eight-man police team.
He was said to have been flagged down by one of the policemen, but as he sped past, one of the officers shattered his windscreen with a baton. In the process, a police corporal, Aremu Musesiu, was said to have opened fire on the tricycle.
The bullet pierced through the tricycle back side and hit his wife, Idongesit, who was breastfeeding their three-month-old baby.
The husband, who looked back when the shot was fired, was said to have also been hit in the neck.
The policemen were said to have hurriedly taken money from the tricycle drivers they had earlier detained, before fleeing the scene.
Many tricycle and okada riders in the area trooped out on Thursday to protest the death and demanded for justice for the victims.
They held placards, some of which read, ‘Isheri Police, your generation will suffer,’ ‘Stop killing us,’ etc.
The protest train went to the Isheri Osun Police Station, where they met a team of armed policemen in more than six vans. An Armoured Personnel Carrier was also mounted on the road to the station.
The Financial Secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Lagos State branch, Chinanzor Ifechiga, was brutalised and her telephone seized by the Divisional Police Officer.
Ifechiga, who was accused of filming the protest and taking pictures, was manhandled by eight policemen, who struggled to take the phone from her on the order of the DPO.
The protesters left the station for Ijegun Road, where they ordered other tricycle operators to cease work.
A tricycle driver, Henry Chibuzor, said the couple was shot at around 10pm on Wednesday.
He said, “I was going home around 10pm when I saw the eight-man team asking me to stop at a checkpoint. I was there with four other tricycle drivers.
“The man was coming from church with his family. As he got to the junction, he swerved and his tricycle mistakenly brushed their patrol van.
“A policeman hit the tricycle’s windscreen with a baton and damaged it. The second policeman fired a bullet which hit the woman in the neck, came out from the other side, and hit her husband too.”
He said the policemen collected N5,000 from him and also extorted money from other tricycle drivers.
Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who confirmed the incident, said Aremu had been arrested.
He added that the DPO of Isheri Osun had also been issued a query for disobeying the Inspector General of Police’s instruction against illegal roadblock.
The CP said, “The police are doing all in our capacity to ensure that the deceased’s children are taken care of. The police corporal involved has been taken into custody. When we complete all necessary disciplinary action, he will be charged to court for murder.
“The team leader and the DPO of Isheri Osun division have also been issued queries for disobeying the IG with regards to policemen performing duties out of uniform, and without a properly-labelled police van.”
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