Family Accuses Police Of Torturing Land Agent To Death In Lagos
Policemen attached to the Zonal Investigative Bureau, Zone 2 Command, have been accused of torturing a land agent, Yemi Taiwo, to death for allegedly planning to abduct a monarch in Lagos State.
Punch Metro learnt that Yemi had gone to a site with his friend, Femi Animashaun, in the Isiu community, Ikorodu area of the state on Friday, September 4, 2020, when some vigilante members, known as Onyabo, and some hoodlums arrested them.
It was gathered that the duo were taken to the secretariat of the Ikorodu North Local Council Development Area before the policemen took them to their annexe office in the Ladegboye area Ikorodu, where they were allegedly tortured.
The deceased’s wife, Olabisi, told a Punch correspondent that Yemi and Femi were allegedly rejected upon their transfer to the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, due to the degree of the injuries they sustained while being tortured.
She stated, “My husband told me that he was going to the site that morning and I was surprised when his younger brother, who stays with us, rushed home around 11am and told me that he heard that his brother had been killed.
“When I heard the news, I was not myself until someone called us later that he was not dead, but was among those arrested for planning to abduct the monarch of Isiu and that he had been taken to the annex office of the Zonal Investigative Bureau.
“When I got to the station on Friday, the Investigating Police Officer, who identified himself as Lati, initially told me that my husband was not at the station, and when I went back on Saturday and Sunday, I was not allowed to see him, but one of his brothers, who went with us, was also detained on Sunday and released on Monday.
“My husband and his friend were brought out of the cell on Tuesday morning and tortured again before they were taken to the Zone 2 headquarters at Onikan. I learnt that when they got there, the superior rejected my husband and his friend when he saw the injuries inflicted on them and he asked the IPO to go and treat them before they could be allowed into the cell.
“It was while they were coming back to their annex office at Ikorodu that my husband died and the IPO said he did not know what to do and he did not want to release the corpse to us. I am appealing to the Inspector-General of Police to come to my aid. Those, who connived with the police to kill my husband, are boasting that they have the support of powerful monarchs and the Lagos State Government. I don’t want my husband to die in vain.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Zone 2 Command, Hauwa Idris, said she was not aware of the incident.
