Nigeria dismisses 'killer cop’

LAGOS, Nigeria

Nigeria has dismissed a police officer who shot dead a football enthusiast Kolade Johnson last Sunday.

Police spokesman Bala Elkanah said in a statement late Thursday that Ogunyemi Olalekan, a police inspector, was found guilty of killing Johnson in a southwest Lagos suburb as the latter was heading to watch a football match.

The incident had triggered widespread protest against unabated police brutality and renewed calls for to scrap a police special squad SARS which citizens insist is notorious for rights violations. Two policemen -- Olalekan and Sergeant Godwin Orji -- indicted in Johnson's killings were arrested on Tuesday.

Elkanah said a panel that tried the two found no evidence linking Orji to the killing and he was therefore released.