Monday, April 23, 2012

Nigeria: One dead in Lagos police raid

"After you people have gone and done your rituals; you'll want to come and put the blame on the police" came the cold response from the police officer.
A police raid at a residence in Amukoko, Sunday, has led to the death of a young man.

Uche Okafor, the deceased, while escaping from the four police officers, who were tipped off about some gamblers in the building, slipped and hit his head on a concrete slab.

Friends rushed the lifeless body to a nearby hospital where a doctor pronounced him dead.

The corpse has been deposited at the General Hospital in Lagos Island.

It was gathered that one of the neighbours, identified as Mr. Kingsley, blew the whistle on the gamblers, after they refused to give him his share of the 'board money' from the previous day. The the police arrived minutes later in a chartered commercial tricycle (popularly known as Keke Marwa).

"They came this morning and all the boys ran away," said a witness.

"Uche was not among the gamblers but he tried to run to avoid police arrest before he ran to his death," he added.

After the death of Mr. Okafor, who was in his 30s, youths in the area trooped to the nearby Pako Police Station to protest.

"We are not to blame for the death," a police officer told them, after they arrested two of the gamblers.

"We were not chasing him. And the ones we arrested, are they still not alive?"

"After you people have gone and done your rituals; you'll want to come and put the blame on the police."

The whistle blower and his family have absconded from their Number 5 Amai Street home.

Members of the deceased family, in Ihe, Awgu local government of Enugu State, have been contacted by telephone.

Friends described Mr. Okafor, who deals in wine in Lagos Island, as a "quiet, peace loving young man."

"He is not a gambler, he's just a fun loving and very friendly man," said a very close friend.

No comments:

Post a Comment