ONE of the principal suspects in the alleged murder of a Police Inspector, Mr. Sunday Musa, has given details of how the deceased officer was tortured, killed and buried over a land dispute involving two families. Fifty-one-year-old Akeem Balogun said the late Police Inspector died after he was hit in the head with a big stick when he came in a van with three other policemen to intervene in a land dispute between the Onojomaja and the Ogunbekun families in Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos State. The officer in charge of Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), Sani Paiko Umar, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said the incessant cases of armed robbery and kidnapping in the area had prompted him to divide his men into two teams to show police presence in Ikorodu and Ibeju Lekki areas, in order to scare away hoodlums and reduce their nefarious activities in the two areas.
Umar said that the team ‘A’ was posted to Ikorodu area while the team ‘B’ was posted to Ibeju Lekki area. Unfortunately, he said, the people the policemen had gone to protect were the ones who murdered Inspector Musa, who was one of the four police officers deployed to the area. He also revealed that the suspects and others yet to be arrested were not telling the commissioner of police CP Fatai Owoseni the truth. A police source revealed that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim K. Idris, was “deeply saddened” by the circumstances of Inspector Musa’s death, hence his decision to direct operatives of his Intelligence Response Team (IRT), led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Abba Kyari, to unravel the mystery behind the Inspector’s death. Abba Kyari’s men were said to have immediately swooped into action and recovered Musa’s Ak47 rifle which his killers had taken away.
The grave where they buried him was also found and his remains were exhumed and taken to hospital for examination. The sniper dog the IRT operatives used was also said to have discovered Musa’s phone in Oshokoro community where he was killed. The source said it was also found that the late Inspector Musa was tortured before he was killed in Oshokoro and buried in the disputed land in Akodo area with his hands tied backwards and a rope tied around his neck to lower him into a grave.
The source also revealed that the exhumed body showed a hole his killers made on the right side of his stomach with pump action rifle, though they are still waiting for the final result of the autopsy. In his confession, Balogun said: “I have been a security man at the gate of St. David’s Primary School in Oshoroko community for more than 20 years. I know Oba Olumuyiwa Ogunbeku of Lekki and Baale Olusegun Oyiri. It was a mob that killed Inspector Musa.
“Four policemen came to Oshoroko in a police van. When the people saw them, they thought that they were sent there by the rival Amodemaja community. So, they started fighting the policemen. When the policemen saw that the crowd was too much, they entered their van and drove off, leaving Musa behind. The people then pursued Musa and grabbed him. They then hit him in the head with a big stick. But I did not see anybody drive a nail into his head as was being said. “What I observed was that they used a stick to hit him and they tortured him with his hand tied to the back.
Because of my bad leg, I did not join them to beat Musa. They asked the women to go into their houses when Musa was on the floor. They then started their Oro festival. “Those who played major parts in torturing and killing Musa include Dalako, Murilaja, Adebo, Lukmon and Jimoh who carried the police Ak47 rifle and pump action gun. In fact, all male adults in Oshoroko participated in the torturing and killing of Musa.
“There were also others like Tunbosun, Shina, Bandele and Dayo, who joined in killing him, and Bello, Atana, Balina and Jimoh who were saddled with the task of burying him. I did not follow them to the graveyard. “Inspector Musa wore a black SARS vest on black jeans.
They did not want everybody to know where Musa was buried in order to keep it secret.” Asked the circumstances that generated the crisis in which Musa was killed, Balogun said:“Musa’s death occurred on 29th November, 2016. But before then, the Oba of Lekki had a land dispute with the Baale and others, which resulted in soldiers and some members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) whisking away some members of Amodemaja family to Bonny camp.
“So, when Oshokoro people saw the four policemen in their van on 29th November, 2016 they thought that they were sent by the Amodemaja family, hence they attacked the policemen. The Oba went to Zone II and reported the Amodemaja family. “But in January 2017, the Inspector General of Police intervened in the matter and directed IRT operatives to take over the case. That was when I was picked up.
Musa was running away when they caught him and dealt with him.” Balogun also revealed they all took an oath at a shrine in Oshokoro so that anyone who revealed anything about their callous action would die. He said he was surprised that he was still alive three days after revealing how it all happened. The second suspect, Baba Aroko Badiru, (67), who one of the policemen alleged was carrying a pump action rifle on that day, denied carrying any weapon, not to talk of a pump action rifle.
He said: “I was the one Inspector Musa rescued when they were beating me during the first fight we had with them. I am from the Oba’s side. Musa was the one who took me to hospital when the Amodemaja family beat me. “This time, I went to Ibeju Lekki to carry drums. Kazeem, Samiru and others were beating my son and I went to the police to report them. They said that nothing would happen. The DPO is a woman but the DCO in Akodo Police Station is Mr. Adams. “That fateful day, 29th November, 2016, I was in front of my house when I saw people running helter skelter. It was later that I heard that they killed a policeman.
“I called the Oba and told him that somebody had died. He asked me where I was and I told him that I was in my house. He said he had reported the matter to Zone 2. It was after nine days that he knew that the dead person was a police inspector. “The land dispute started seven years ago. The Oba overseas Lekki Akodo to Folu Ade Amodemaja. The head of that community contested the stool with the present Oba of Lekki. They think that he wants to colonise the whole land.
Therefore, they said the road has divided the land and nobody from one side should cross to the other side for peace to reign.” Three eyewitnesses, Didemi Amodemaja (40), Michael Amodemaja (43) and Tareem Nasiru (52) spoke to The Nation on the issue. Didemi, who claims to be a car dealer, said: “I was in Oshoroko on that 29th November.
There was a land dispute between Amodemaja and the Oba of Lekki, Alhazeem Ogumbeku. “What generated the issue of 29th November is that the Oba of Lekki brought soldiers and parked some boys who were working as labourers, alleging that they were kidnappers.
They carried some family members to the barracks. Everybody in the village ran to the riverine area because they did not know what was happening. “SARS operatives had been in the vicinity for more than a month because of kidnappers who used to come through the riverine area. When soldiers came, we told them that we were attacked by over 300 hoodlums with charms. By the time we got to a spot in Oshoroko village, we met our brother, Michael Amodemaja, lying flat in cold blood and we rescued him.
“The Inspector that was with police patrol van was missing and his colleagues thought that he had gone to the barracks. “When we got to Akodo Police Station, the DPO chased us away, saying that a police officer had been kidnapped. On November 30, 2016, we went to the X-Squad Zone II and later to SARS. Michael, who claimed to be a transporter, said: “I was at site on that fateful day.
We were grading the land and looking for buyers. We saw boys from neighbouring Oshoroko village. They picked four of our boys (bricklayers and carpenters). As they were taking them away we went to ask them what had happened. “They held me and started beating me all over my body. I was on the floor before I found myself in the van that took me to the hospital.” Nasiru, who claimed to be a fisherman, said: “It happened in Oshoroko junction. I was at the site.
My brother Shakiru Ilesanmi came back in the evening after the attack at Oshoroko. He said they had killed the police officer and nothing would happen. “I told him that he connived with the people to kill a SARS officer and that he should be careful because there would be repercussion.”
The post How we tortured, killed and buried Police Inspector –Suspect appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.