New Telegraph

Police in Lagos tortured our brother to death – Relations

Relatives of Mr. Omolola Ejioye have accused men of the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos State of torturing him to death.

 

The victim was arrested on May 2, about 8pm, at Ladega area of Ikorodu, after a robbery incident in which a commercial motorcycle rider was killed.

 

After the robbery incident, some policemen stormed the area and people bolted immediately they saw them. Unfortunately, Omolola, who was with his girlfriend at the time, was arrested.

 

Omolola ‘s friend, Mr. Tunde Adebayo, said after he was arrested, the policemen took him to their station at Igbogbo and detained him until when the case was transferred to the SCIID, Panti, where he spent some days in detention. Adebayo said Omolola’s friends and family members made spirited efforts to secure his release, but unfortunately, he died in police custody on May 7.

 

He said: “We were told he was severely tortured by the policemen while in detention. I was also told that one Babatunde in D4 Department allegedly collected money from his family to open a file for the case for him, while on Tuesday, one superintendent of police, identified simply as Bola, also collected money from the family to carryout coroner inquest on the motorcycle rider who died during a clash in Ikorodu. It should be noted that the deceased was unjustly arrested due to the death of one motorcycle rider.

 

“I was also told on Thursday that the Investigation  Police Officer (IPO) collected money for mobilisation to Ikorodu to investigate the scene of the death of the motorcycle rider.” Omolola’s brother, Mr. Kunle Ejioye, described the victim’s death as unfortunate.

 

He said Omolola knew nothing about what he was arrested for by the police. Kunle said a few days before his death, the family and his friends requested administrative bail for him through their lawyer but the police asked them to bring N100,000, which they couldn’t produce.

 

He added: “We firmly told the police officer that we had just N28,000 which the officer on duty rejected and denied the deceased bail. But we insisted on seeing him, to assess his health conditions.

 

We were eventually allowed to see him. When we saw him, he had been subjected to torture by the police and he also had some bruises and bloodstains on his body. Unfortunately, Omolola died in police custody on May 7.

 

“We were told he died in the middle of the night. That was how I lost my brother to wickedness. They killed him because of money. We want justice for him; we don’t want him to die in vain.

 

We are calling on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to come to our aid.” The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, neither picked his calls nor responded to a text message sent to his mobile phone to confirm the story.

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