Henry Okonkwo
Fresh facts have emerged in the death of Francis Idum, who was allegedly shot dead by operatives of the Special Armed Robbery Squad, SARS, on July 15, 2019, in Ilupeju area of Lagos, during a raid on some street hoodlums.
Investigations by the family revealed that the late Francis, a cleaner, died from a gunshot fired by a SARS operative (name withheld) from the Ladipo SARS Division, Mushin.
However, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Command, DSP Bala Elkanah insisted that a stray bullet fired by hoodlums, and not then police, killed the deceased.
He said: “On July 15, 2019, around 7:30 a.m., SARS operatives led by Inspector Mohammed Akeem, while being led by a notorious gang leader, Ikechukwu Monye, to where their arms were kept, were ambushed by members of the gang along Ajisegiri Street, Ilupeju. The assailants shot indiscriminately and in the process killed a middle-aged man who was passing by.”
The family refuted the claim when it held a press conference in collaboration with a human rights group and their lawyer, declaring as untrue the information released by police. Younger brother of the deceased, Mr. Sunday Idum said the police lied in their statement about the circumstances that lead to the killing. According to Sunday, the PPRO’s statement was a calculated attempt by the police to pervert justice and cover up their tracks in the killing of his brother.
In a chat with Sunday Sun, he said: “My elder brother Francis was the breadwinner of the family, and since after his death, our aged parents have not been the same again. We are still in shock because he was murdered when he was making preparation for his wedding. Our father is down suffered stroke and went into coma when we told him of Francis’s death.
“We are disturbed by the fact that the police have not deemed it necessary to show empathy or console us over the killing of Francis. And all our efforts to get justice over this matter are being frustrated by the Police Command.
After the corpse of Francis was taken to the mortuary, a police officer who claimed to be in charge of the case contacted us for money to finance his investigation. After so much pressure from him, the family eventually gave him N5,500. After that, we didn’t hear from him again.
“At a time I went to check on my brother’s corpse where the Police dumped it in a mortuary at Yaba. But to my shock, the morticians told us that the corpse had been listed for mass burial. I was shocked because we were not contacted before the listing our brother’s corpse for mass burial. So we began to beg to stop the move. And after several appeals, the morticians insisted that the sum of N15,000 must be paid in order to remove the corpse from a container where it was dropped among others for mass burial.
“Upon this, we contacted the police officer investigating the case to alert him of the development, but he asked another policewoman to follow us to the morgue. We went there together but nothing was achieved. We realized that our brother’s corpse may be lost in the process, so we began begging the morticians and deposited N10,000.00 in order to remove it from the bodies enlisted for mass burial. After that, we were again asked to pay N40, 000 for postmortem. We are deeply saddened at the injustice meted out to us by the police. So we are appealing to them to release our brother’s corpse to us so that we can at least give him a befitting burial.”
Commenting on the case, the National President of the Paths of Peace Initiatives (PPI), Mr. Dandy Eze, decried the level of impunity displayed by the police to bury the truth surrounding the killing of Francis Idum. “Francis, who had a hunchback was a well-known janitor and he lived at Sobayo Street, Ilupeju. He was killed on Monday 15th July 2019 at exactly 8.15am at Ajisegiri Street Off Shyllon Street, Ilupeju, by the SARS operatives during the raid of some hoodlums in the street. And upon noticing that the deceased was dead, the SARS operatives fled the area but the residents identified the officer that fired sporadically and whose bullet killed Francis. A few minutes after Francis was killed, SARS men returned to the scene and took the body of Francis away.
“Meanwhile, eyewitnesses were able to pick up the bullet shell that killed Francis as it was found beside him. The bullet was marked B & S 9mm Luger. And since after the incident, some policemen have been coming to Francis’ family to intimidate and harass them, requesting for evidence of his death (bullet shell) despite that the whole family is in mourning mood.”
Mr. Eze vowed that they would remain undeterred in their quest to get justice, even though their petitions to Police authorities (Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone F Command, Ikeja and Commissioner of Police, Lagos State) have yielded no response yet from them.
“We are beginning to raise questions whether Police constitutional function is now to keep silent over a poor citizen that was unlawfully killed by a police officer. And that is why we are appealing to the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representative, Hon Femi Gbajamiamila, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Lagos State Police Commissioner, Muazu Zubairu, and the general public to intervene in this matter and get justice for Francis Idum’s family.”
Also speaking, Olukayode Omotosho, a lawyer and a close friend of Francis accused the police of being remorseless and insensitive to the grief of the bereaved family. I have known Francis for over 10 years, and I can vouch that he is not a criminal or a cultist and would never engage in any street brawl. There was no cult clash on the day he was killed as the police claimed. Anybody that said Francis was killed during a gang conflict could only have been economical with the truth. It was a case of accidental discharge by the police. But instead of apologising to the family, they chose to cover their tracks. It is very unfortunate.
We demand the release of Francis’ corpse which has been dumped with other bodies for mass burial. They should allow us to have his body for befitting burial. We are tired of the high demands for money and tossing us here and there by officials of the mortuary and the police. The police demanded that we do autopsy and we paid part of the N40,000 requested for the test. We are being stretched beyond the limit on an incident caused by police operatives. We want justice for the death of our dear son, killed by SARS men,” he declared