Three Lagos Cops Returning From Edo Election Die In Road Accident

Three policemen have lost their lives in a crash that occurred on the Benin-Ore Expressway in Ondo State while returning from a national assignment in Edo State.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the policemen were on their way home following the conclusion of the governorship election in Edo State when the vehicle conveying them and their colleagues to Lagos State was involved in an accident in Ore, Ondo State.

While their colleagues survived, with some sustaining varying degrees of injury, the corpses of the three policemen were recovered from the scene of the accident.

The corpses were said to have been deposited in the Ore General Hospital’s mortuary.

It was learnt that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, on Sunday, September 13, deployed 1,000 policemen to complement the personnel deployed in Edo State by the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.

A policeman, who was in the vehicle and spoke on condition of anonymity, said he and his colleagues spent a week in Edo State for the election and had completed their assignment and were on their way back to their stations in Lagos when the accident, which claimed the lives of the officers, occurred last Sunday.

He said, “An accident claimed three policemen while on our way back from election duties in Edo State last Sunday, September 20, 2020. One of the victims was Corporal Oluwafemi Adeyanju, an indigene of Ondo State, where the accident occurred. The other two policemen were inspectors. I was also deployed in Edo State for the election and we had completed the national assignment and were coming home when the accident happened in Ore and three of my colleagues were killed.

“Apart from the three policemen, who died on the spot, others sustained varying degrees of injury. The family of Adeyanju has gone to claim his remains and buried him in his home town of Akure; we don’t know about the rest of the victims. When we were departing for Edo State, more than 80 buses parked outside the gate of the police command’s headquarters in Ikeja and conveyed us to Edo State.”

Another policeman, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, told PUNCH Metro that the government abandoned them after completing their assignment in Edo State, adding that all the policemen deployed in the state for the election had to find their way back home by themselves.

He said, “We left the command headquarters around 2pm on Sunday, September 13, 2020, and spent a week before the election on Saturday, September 19, 2020, and we returned on Sunday. It was the Federal Government that was responsible for our transportation to Edo State, but we were abandoned after the completion of the assignment and had to return back to base by ourselves.

“I paid my transport fare back home, because I couldn’t remain in Edo State and I thank God that I travelled for the assignment and returned home safely. It was not a small journey; out of the 1,000 policemen deployed in Edo State, only three could not make it back home and some others got injured. The police authorities should find a way to honour their sacrifice while serving the nation.”

Adeyanju, popularly known as Two Sure, was said to be 35-year-old and was reportedly survived by his wife, children, sisters and aged father.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said he would get back our correspondent but had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report despite repeated calls and a text message sent to his mobile telephone line.