Some policemen attached
to Maroko police station, Lagos State, have been accused of killing a 24-year
old man, Aondona Tavershima and buried him in a shallow grave at Lekki beach.
“On realizing that he was
dead, the policemen picked his corpse and put it behind their patrol vehicle,
a Toyota Hilux Van, and covered it with tyres. They drove to the beach and
buried him. We were the ones who alerted the family that their brother had been
killed and buried,” the eyewitness disclosed.
Narrating the incident to
Sunday Sun on phone, Aondona’s elder sister, Linda, said she got to know about
the incident on Thursday, November 11, 2014. “I knew that he left for Lekki
with his friend and when he did not come back, I assumed that he had gone to
spend time with his friends. When I was told that my brother was killed, my
people visited the scene and saw the grave. We later discovered that the
policemen were from Maroko police station and we went to lodge a complaint.
They promised to invite SCID Panti to exhume the body, as it was not their job.
At night, they came and exhumed the body and kept it in a mortuary. The DPO
later called me and requested that they would pay us N10 million to end the
matter. They said we should go home and think about it and get back to them,”
Linda alleged.
Similarly, an in-law to
the deceased, Dominic David, claimed that he was told that policemen were
trying to arrest Aondona and he refused to stop. “They opened fire on him and
shot him.
And even when he fell
down, they still continued to shoot.
Initially, they wanted to
abandon the corpse, but the owner of the house near where he was killed
insisted that they must carry the corpse away.”
“They took his body to
Lekki beach and buried him in a grave and covered the burial site with leaves
and old carton. Unfortunately, some of the people who witnessed the crime knew
us very well and alerted us. They promised that Panti was going to investigate
the matter but up till date, they have not done anything about it.”
The lawyer representing
the family, Barrister Mindia Chibok, said the family intends to legally seek
redress on the injustice meted out to the victim. We expect that by now the
matter should have been transferred to an appropriate authority and not the
same police station where the crime was committed. We hope that the police
authority will order a thorough investigation and ensure that the suspects,
including those who are currently at large be arrested and made to face the
wrath of the law.
I gathered that six of
the suspects are currently at large while five others are in police custody.
Confirming the incident,
Lagos Police command spokesman, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said that as soon as the
Commissioner of Police for Lagos State got wind of the incident, he ordered an
immediate arrest of the suspected policemen who were alleged to have
participated in the killing.
“Five policemen are
currently being detained, while State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti,
has since commenced an investigation. If found guilty, the officers will be
made to face the wrath of the law,” Nwosu said.
useless people and system called Nigeria police
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