Former Lagos State Speaker, 49 others arrested over murder of police officer
Aformer Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Jokotola Pelumi, and 49 others alleged to be his aides have been arrested over the murder of a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Akingboju Akindele, and the abduction of an Assistant Superintendent of Police.
The suspects had allegedly ambushed Akindele of the AntiCultism unit of the Lagos State police command when he led his team to the Ijede area of Ikorodu on Saturday to effect the arrest of four suspected cultists who had been on the police wanted list.
The police said that the DSP and his team were heading back to the office with the cultists when some members of the cult group ambushed them.
The cultists were said to have shot Akindele dead, collected his rifle and abducted the Superintendent. On their way to the bush where they allegedly intended to bury the ASP alive, the police officer escaped, hid in the bush and was able to monitor where the hoodlums buried the rifle.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, who briefed journalists yesterday on the killing of the policemen on October 27, 2018 and the subsequent arrest of the cultists, said investigation on the matter led to the arrest of Pelumi and the 49 suspects.
Edgal said the suspected killers and cultists were arrested inside Pelumi’s house at Ijede, where he said they had hidden after killing the police officer.
According to him, when he learnt of the murder of the police officer, he quickly mobilised his men who traced the suspected killers to the former Speaker’s house and were surprised to meet them jubilating.
“The question is: What would cultists who committed the murder of a DSP be doing in the Speaker’s house? Why would he habour cultists and thugs in his house? And why would he shield such persons that killed a senior police officer in his house? This is serious and we will not take it lightly. We may charge the Speaker for accessory to the fact of murder, while the other suspects will be charged with murder,” he said.
One of the suspects, Wasiu, who claimed to be an aide to the Speaker, told newsmen that he was busy on chores in the house when some people ran in, shouting that the police were after them.
A police officer, who spoke with Daily Trust on the condition of anonymity, said, “Preliminary investigation showed that the gang was a formidable one that has held Ikorodu and its environs by the jugular. It has been operating with absolute confidence as it has influential politicians backing its members. One would have expected those who murdered the police officer to be on the run, but they stayed put in the former Speaker’s house.”