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The police escort had gone around the 7th roundabout on the Lekki-Epe Expressway when a motorcycle with a driver and a passenger swerved in front of Ojo’s car, cutting the Mercedes off from the escort. Abiodun slammed on the brakes. Chief Ojo, not wearing his seatbelt, slammed against the driver’s seat and partially fell into the footwell. Shehu unclasped his own seatbelt to help Ojo. Abiodun spread his fingers at the careless motorcycle driver then opened the door to step out onto the road. The passenger got off the bike. In his hands was an Uzi that had been concealed between his belly and the driver’s back. He aimed at the windscreen before Abiodun had time to get out, and let out two short bursts of fire before climbing back on the bike. Hawkers and pedestrians on the side of the road ran away. The traffic warden at the junction fled. Motorcycles turned round and sped away. Cars reversed into the noses of other cars and a few drivers abandoned their vehicles altogether.

The motorcycle was speeding away in the distance towards Ajah. The officers in the escort van ran to Ojo’s Mercedes and opened the back door. Shehu’s body was on top of Ojo, pinning him down. Ojo was screaming ‘Jesus, Jesus,’ over and over. The officers grabbed both men and pulled them apart. Ojo resisted, kept his hands over his head and tried to bury himself in the footwell. ‘Jesus, Jesus.’

The police officers stopped traffic at the roundabout, waving their guns about as if other assassins lurked among the motorists hiding beneath their windows. Pedestrians and people who had dared to come out of their cars were taking pictures with their phones. The police van reversed towards the Mercedes. Ojo, in the grip of two officers leading him to the van, turned to look at his car. The driver’s side of the windshield was riddled with bullet holes. Abiodun was slumped sideways onto the passenger seat, a smear of blood left on his headrest, blood flowing from his body onto the central console.