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More details have emerged as regards to the case of Omolola Ejioye who was unlawfully arrested by operatives of the Nigerian Police Force, Lagos State Command — and later died in custody following torture.
BlackBox Nigeria had reported that Ejioye was picked around 8 p.m at Ladega in the Ikorodu area of the state, on Sunday, May 2.
He was initially detained in Igbogbo Police Station before his case was transferred on Tuesday morning, May 4, to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Adekunle, Lagos State — after spending days in unlawful detention.
Efforts, pleas by family and friends of the victim to secure his bail proved abortive amidst allegations of extortion by the Police.
Eventually, he died in police custody on May 7, following alleged severe torture by the officers in charge. Ejioye was also said to suffer from deteriorating health conditions.
A family source told BlackBox Nigeria that they have been unable to retrieved the remains of the deceased.
On getting to Panti, they asked to see where the body is. The officer they met said he will need a direct order from OC D4 Panti, so they headed to the OC’s office together.
They had to wait at the corridor because the OC was attending to some people in his office. While waiting, he said, they asked since Ejioye’s health condition was observed, why didn’t the police take him to the hospital for medical treatment? The officer said they didn’t know it would end that way.
They were then directed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and later to Panti again. The family source said one of the officers involved in the case, Supo Babatunde Victor of D4, spoke rudely to the family members, calling the deceased all sort of names including “drug addict” — a claim the family has since debunked.
Upon seeing their visible anger and frustration, one Supo Bola — who is also linked to the case — took them to Mainland Hospital Mortuary.
However, the family source said the mortuary attendant told them that they need to come with affidavit of identification and a 5×7 picture of Omolola Ejioye, that’s only when they could be allowed to see his body. This, the attendant, said was the protocols.
“But I can confirm Omolola Rotimi Ejioye’s name on their record book, I now confirm Ejioye is in the mortuary,” the family source said.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, in a statement on Monday, was quoted as saying that the suspect was neither tortured nor maltreated by the police, at any point, despite his alleged involvement in the murder case under investigation.
“On 7th May, 2021, at about 4am, the attention of the officers on duty at the State CID, Panti, was drawn to a strange behavior of the suspect, Omolola, suggesting an underlining illness and he was quickly rushed to Falomo Police Hospital, Ikoyi, Lagos where he gave up the ghost while on admission,” the statement signed by the Lagos Police Command Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, read in part.
“The corpse has been deposited at the mortuary for the performance of Autopsy to ascertain the probable cause of death.
“The Command therefore urges the general public to disregard the fake, unfounded and mischievous news which has been in circulation by certain individuals to distort the fact and escalate misinformation on the incident, for reasons best known to them.”
