Christopher Oji

A police corporal, Agada Akoh has been beaten to death in Sango-Ota area of Ogun State.

The incident happened on Sunday when the deceased and his colleague tried to caution a reckless driver who mobilized some thugs to beat up the officers, but Corporal Agada Akoh could not make it as he died few hours after he was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

Already four persons have been arrested in connection with the murder of Akoh while the police have stepped up manhunt for other suspect who are on the run.

It was gathered that Akoh was on escort of their principal alongside one other policeman from Idah in Kogi State and were heading to Lagos via Sango on the Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway when they encountered the ugly incident that claimed his life.

In a press statement,Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi ,said that, at Dalemo area, “a truck driver, Jelili Ismaila, drove dangerously and almost pushed the vehicle the officers were traveling in off road. In the process of avoiding hitting the vehicle, the truck ran into a pothole and had a punctured tyre.

The two police escorts, alighted from their vehicle to caution the truck driver of the need to respect other road users rights.

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Rather than appreciate the advice given to him, the driver proved stubborn and passed the bulk on the police driver, accusing him of being at fault. He was said to have mobilised hoodlums who attacked the officers and their principal with dangerous weapons. They beat Akoh to a state of coma and thereafter bolted.

According to the PPRO, “Information got to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Sango-Otta, CSP Godwin Idehai at about 9:30pm, who quickly led his men to the scene and met the policeman in a pool of his own blood.

The DPO-led team of detectives immediately rushed their fatally injured colleague to the State Hospital in Otta for medical attention, where he gave up the ghost while receiving treatment. His corpse was then deposited at the hospital’s mortuary.

However, confounded by the gravity of their offence and its aftermath effect, more so that they suspected that the victim might not survive the intense beatings, the driver and his hired hoodlums went into hiding where the police detectives, through a tip-off, sniffed the hiding, and apprehended four members of the gang, while four others escaped.

Oyeyemi gave the names of the arrested suspects as Jelili Ismaila, 22; Amidu Bankole, 34; Elijah Samson, 36 and Moses Proboye, 34, adding that the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Awolowo Ajogun, decried the lawless act as barbaric and has ordered a serious manhunt for the four other fleeing members of the gang.

“While warning that he would not take kindly to unwarranted attacks of policemen in whatever form, the CP has consequently directed that the arrested suspects be transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for an b investigation and deligent prosecution”.