The Lagos State police command has revealed the identity of a twenty-two year old commercial motor cyclist, popularly called okada, who poured fuel on a sound engineer, David Imoh, as he was lynched in the Lekki area of Lagos.
Recall that Imoh, Francis Olatimji and Phillip Balogun were mobbed by ill-tempered by commercial motorcyclists on Thursday, May 12, 2022, on Admiralty Way in the Lekki area of Lagos State.
The late Imoh served as a sound engineer for Legacy360 band, while Olatimji and Balogun served as saxophonist and keyboardist respectively.
Explaining the circumstances of Imoh’s death and hospitalisation of the duo of Olatimiji and Balogun, Legacy360 band said in a statement that, the trio met their unfortunate fate after a misunderstanding with an okada operator over N100 change.
Imoh, according to reports was lynched and burnt by the okada riders at the end of a dispute over difference in the fare.
Giving an update on the incident, spokesman for the command, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, said in a statement that the number of suspects arrested in connection with Imoh’s murder had risen to seven.
He said the seventh suspect, 22-year-old Usman Abubakar, doused the deceased with petrol with which he was set ablaze.
The police in a statement entitled ‘Re: Lynching of David Imoh n Lekki’ also debunked an article circulated on the social media by a faceless DSS officer claiming a cover-up by the police in the Imoh’s gruesome murder.
The statement reads:
“The Command wishes to debunk this write-up as nothing but a cunningly-crafted work of fiction ill-intended by some unpatriotic persons and war mongers to cause disaffection, and possibly ethnic war, amongst Nigerians.
“The Lagos State Police Command again confirms that the Divisional Police Officer, Maroko Division arrived at the active crime scene , promptly arrested four suspects and rescued the other two persons under attack. The numerous observers of the arrests, some of whom made videos, can attest to this.
“It is therefore ridiculous, frivolous and laughable that the suspects were allegedly paid a miserly one hundred thousand naira each to admit and take the fall for murder.
“Further investigation by the State Criminal Investigation Department led to the arrest of two other suspects. All six suspects were paraded before the press by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Abiodun Alabi, fdc, mnim, psc on May 20, 2022. A seventh suspect, Usman Abubakar, aged 22 (not the mastermind), who literally poured petrol on the victim, was eventually arrested the next day. This brings the total number of arrested suspects to seven.
“Furthermore, not only has the State Director of DSS in Lagos State confirmed to the Lagos State commissioner of police that the alleged officer was unknown to them, he equally confirmed that the DSS neither arrested nor handed over any suspect to the police.
“CP Alabi therefore urges Nigerians to disregard the write-up as a mischievous attempt by fifth columnists to cause trouble within the country.”
