- We’re still investigating – PPRO
Wife of a 27-year-old South Africa returnee, Niyi Ogungbemi, allegedly killed by an anti-riot policeman at a hotel in the Egbeda area of Lagos, has alleged that the police have continued to extort various sums of money from the family while still holding on to her husband’s corpse.
The distraught widow, Oyindamola, who is still nursing her six-monthold first child, told our correspondent that the policemen investigating the killing of her husband by another policeman had formed the habit of asking her family to pay one sum of money or the other before proceeding with the case.
She said, “We are yet to have access to my husband’s corpse, despite several amount of money they have collected from us. The first amount they collected was at the hotel, where he was killed by the policeman. They collected this money all in the name of taking my husband’s corpse to the mortuary and after that, they have collected several other amounts of money from us, especially at Panti.
“Each time my brothers-in-law and other family members go to them (police), they collect money. I cannot even say that this is the exact amount of money they have so far collected from us, but we have given them a lot of money over this case, yet nothing has been done and we can’t even collect my husband’s corpse from the mortuary they took him to”.
Corroborating the widow, the elder brother of the deceased, Gbadega Ogungbemi, said that the family had paid monies running to several thousands of naira to the police in a bid to retrieve Niyi’s corpse, which is still being kept in a mortuary by the force.
Gbadega claimed that the sum of N20,000 was collected by the police officers who evacuated Niyi’s coprse from the hotel after he was shot dead by the killer-policeman.
He further alleged that the extortion saga continued with police officers at the Homicide Department of the State Criminal Investigation Department at Panti, Yaba, Lagos, who kept demanding various sums of money to get one thing or the other done regarding the investigation of the matter and retrieval of his deceased brother’s corpse from the mortuary.
Gbadega told our correspondent that, “When my brother was killed by the mobile police man, the police team that came to evacuate his corpse to the mortuary collected N20,000 from us, saying that they rented the car they used to carry him. After this, when we went to Panti at the Homicide Department, several sums of money were collected from us. They collected N20,000 again from us and later they collected another N10,000. After this, they also collected N8,000 in addition to others, which I cannot even remember now. They usually collect money whenever we go to them. When they collected the last amount, they told us that they will use the money for investigation and autopsy. But as we are talking, nothing has been done.
“When we went to the mortuary for Niyi’s corpse, the police asked us to pay for the bill at the mortuary, whereas they were the ones that took him to the mortuary after he had been killed by their colleague. Now, they want us to foot the bills and also pay for the autopsy.”
How incident occurred
When at first she was told on the phone last April 13 that her husband, Niyi, had been involved in an accident, Oyindamola did not have any foreboding that the worst had happened to the father of one.
But Niyi had actually been shot dead some minutes before his wife’s arrival at the scene of the accident and his corpse quickly evacuated by the police! He was allegedly killed by an unidentified anti-riot policeman deployed in a hotel, Erico Bellisima, located around Shobo Bus Stop in Egbeda, Lagos, where he had gone to ask for the N5million owed him by his friend, simply identified as Santo.
His friend, who allegedly raised a false alarm that prompted the policeman to fire the shots that snuffed life out of Niyi, was said to have lodged in the hotel. He was said to have claimed that Niyi had come to the hotel to rob him of his money and other valuables before the policeman chased the South Africa returnee and shot him dead.
Widow’s cry for justice
Niyi’s widow, Oyindamola, has, however, raised the alarm that the police had been trying to sweep the extra-judicial killing of her husband under the carpet.
She claimed that the manner with which the matter was being handled by the police authorities had left so much to be desired.
Sobbing, the distraught mother of one told our correspondent that inspite of the fact that the killer-policeman was used by her husband’s friend to murder him, the police had yet to make any headway in investigating the matter.
“As you can see, I am now suddenly a widow. My son is now fatherless, all because of a police officer who believes his own duty is to be hired to kill a fellow citizen that he was supposed to protect. Even if my husband was a suspect, was he not expected to arrest him for investigation? But far from that, he was in the place to ask his friend for the money he was being owed, only for the mobile policeman to chase him and shoot him dead without any cause.
“We were earlier directed to CID Panti when the incident occurred, but on getting there, we were told they didn’t have the case file. It was not until we went back to Moshalashi Division to complain that the case was later transferred to them and they told us they would work on it. Since then, nothing serious has been done; they still have my husband’s body in their custody” she said.
Recounting how the incident occurred, Oyindamola said, “I was at home when I received a call that Niyi was involved in an accident at Erico Bellisima Hotel, and I rushed to the place on a bike. On getting there, I saw a crowd in front of the hotel with some of my husband’s friends, who were shouting. At first, they didn’t want to tell me what transpired, but later I was told that a mobile policeman shot my husband. Initially, I thought it was just an injury until I was told that he died on the spot before policemen from Moshalashi came to carry his corpse to a mortuary in Yaba.”
She lamented that since her husband’s demise, life had not been the same again, adding that the incident put paid to the plans to mark Niyi’s 27th birthday few days before he was shot dead.
“As I speak, there is no more hope for me and my son. He was about to clock six months when his father was killed. I’m now only left with the memories of my husband. My son will only see his father’s picture when he grows up. This is just unfair,” she said.
The elder brother of the deceased, Gbadega Ogungbemi, said that the family had yet to recover from the shocking death of his sibbling in the hand of a police officer who connived with the deceased’s friend, named Santo, to kill him.
Giving his own account of the incident, Gbadega said he also received phone calls that his younger brother was shot in a hotel at Shobo, Egbeda, Lagos.
He said, “When I got to the hotel after the calls, I dashed in but found nothing but a crowd and policemen. When I inquired from the police officers, they confirmed to me that his corpse had been taken to a mortuary in Yaba. It’s a painful experience nobody will ever pray for.
“One of his friends told me that he came with him to the hotel. He said Niyi had asked him to accompany him to the hotel to collect the N5million Santo was owing him. On getting there, as they were about to enter the hotel’s reception, the mobile policeman began to shoot at them and they ran. But unfortunately, Niyi stumbled and fell. Then, the policeman caught up with him and shot him in the chest. He died on the spot.”
Our correspondent also learnt that after the killer-policeman shot dead the victim, he again opened fire, shooting sporadically in order to escape being arrested and disarmed by other policemen, who were attracted to the scene by the gunshots.
“For more than one hour after he committed the crime, he (killerpoliceman) ran back to the hotel and started shooting from inside. By then, we were all in front of the hotel with other police officers who came there. After they noticed he had exhausted his bullets, they went inside and arrested him,” Taofik Akanni, a resident of Shobo, told our correspondent.
Killer-cop detained
Meanwhile, our correspondent gathered that the alleged killer-policeman is currently being held in custody.
A police source, who spoke under a condition of anonymity, said, “As I am talking to you, he (killer-policeman) is currently in detention. After the on-going investigation on the matter, he may be charged to court.”
Deceased’s mother’s angst
The mother of the deceased, Mrs. Iyabo Ogungbemi, told our correspondent that the police authorities must identify and punish her son’s killer without further delay.
Ogungbemi expressed dissatisfaction with the police’s handling of her son’s death at the hands of one of their men, alleging that indication has emerged that the Force had been trying to bury the case with a view to allowing the killer-policeman to go scot-free.
“Police, out of their wickedness, have ruined my life. They killed my son after conniving with the boy that owed my son money. And now, they want to bury the case. I wonder what could have made someone to kill a fellow human being. Is it because he was paid?” she said shedding tears.
She added that police would do justice in the matter if only they arraigned the killer-policeman in court.
“They said they have arrested the mobile policeman who shot him, but we don’t know how true it is because we have also heard that the police want to bury the case. But whatever the case may be, all I want is for both the killer-policeman and the boy who invited him to shoot my son, to be made to face the full wrath of the law in court. How do I labour to train a child all these years only for some people to just waste him just like that?” she said.
Police react
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Olarinde FamousCole, said investigation into the incident had begun. “Investigation is still ongoing on the case. As you know, it’s a murder case, which must be investigated. Police is working on the case”, FamousCole, an assistant superintendent of police, said.
