‘SARS operatives killed physically-challenged man, dumped his body in container’

A Deputy Registrar at the Yaba College of Technology, Olukayode Omotosho, Friday narrated how he found the body of a physically-challenged in a container at a mortuary.

He told the Lagos State Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters that the victim was hit by a stray bullet fired by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad SARS.

Omotosho, 65, said that before the victim of the stray bullet Francis Eni Idun, was killed on July 15, he was with him till past 5pm, on Sunday July 14, 2019, at Christ Apostolic Church, Shilon Street at Ilupeju Lagos.

He said on July 15, 2019, he was in his office when he received a call that Idun has been killed in a Street at Agishegiri Street at Ilupeju.

“I quickly picked my car and rushed down to the place, when I got there, I saw a large crowd there, it took me some time to get there, when I eventually got there, I saw Eni Idun, he was laying down with blood on his shirt, he was a physically challenged person.

“His occupation is cleaning, he cleans people’s houses, each morning when he wakes up, he goes to the next house to clean their bathroom, toilet and then move to the next house,” Omotosho said.

The witness who was led in examination in chief by Mr M.M Sanni, said by the time he got to the scene of crime, he heard people saying the man was “killed by Akeem Mohammed AKA, Sokoda, a SARS operative from Ladipo Mushin Station” and no one dared to remove the corpse.

He testified that he picked up a bullet shell beside the dead victim close to his head and also took his picture.

Omotosho said “I picked up the bullet shell beside him, he was hit on the head and the bullet was very close to his head so I picked it.”

He further testified that the people on the street “were shouting that Akeem Soda must come and carry the corpse.”

Omotosho said according to eye witnesses in the area, Akeem and his colleagues came in a Toyota Corolla with tinted glass.

“Not quite long as we were there looking at the dead body, the Police came with a lot of policemen and sirens and started tear gassing people, we were running and there was a stamped,” he said.

“I had the effrontery to question their commander, who said he was the Area Commander from Area F, and took the corpse away. After that, the police went to the houses of people to arrest them and also extorted them before they were released,” he said.

The witness further told the panel that the corpse of the victim was dumped in a Container in Yaba beside the Military Hospital.

“When I got to the mortuary, I was told by the mortuary attendant that the corpse was not in the mortuary, that I should check the container. He said that those in the container were for mass burial. They said before the corpse could be removed from the container and kept in a real mortuary, we had to pay N10,500,” he stated.

Omotosho also said that it was the investigative Police Officer that directed them to the mortuary, where the corpse of the deceased was found in a container.

He said: “There was an autopsy carried out which showed the cause of death was gunshot to the head; his aged parents at Cross River requested that we bring him home for burial.”

The witness stated that in less than an hour of after the incident occurred Police public relation officer, SP, Bala Elkana, released a press statement that Francis Eni Idun was killed by hoodlums.

“I wrote petition to the Assistant-Inspector General of Police on July 18, 2019, three days after he was killed, made copies to the Lagos State Governor, DPO, Ilupeju Police Station, Area Commander Area F, Commissioner of Police Alagbon Anex, on August 9, Civil Liberty Organisations and on our behalf they sent a petition to the Commissioner of Police at Ikeja and the Office of the Public defender OPD, on August 30, sent petition to the police.”

During cross examination, by police counsel Cyril Ejioffor, the witness said that the container where the corpse was dumped was on the hospital premises.

He said that they also traced the vehicle to where it was packed outside Mushin SARS office.

Omotosho said he didn’t know the name of the person he paid N10,500 to at the mortuary for them to remove the corpse from the container.

The brother of the deceased victim Sunday Eni Idun, corroborated Omotosho’s testimony.

Idun an Aluminum Fabricator, who resides in Delta State, said his late elder brother was the bread winner of the family.

He said that after his parents heard the news of his brother’s death, his father had high blood pressure and it developed to stroke.

Idun, who said he had since lost his job, asked the panel to help compensate his family. (The Nation)