A 23-year-old man, Arowole Paul, has been allegedly beaten to death by two policemen attached to Area ‘C’ Surulere and a civilian accomplice in the Ojuelegba area of Lagos State.

The deceased, a Fashion Designer, was said to have taken his father’s tricycle and the family’s only means of livelihood to work on January 14, 2023, but never made it back home.

He was said to have been flagged down by the unidentified civilian, who was working for the policemen, apparently to collect a toll from him.

A video where he was seen being battered by the two policemen was later revealed to his family.

Unable to bear news of Paul’s death, his 65-year-old grandmother reportedly died a week after.

Lamentation

When visited the Arowolos abode in Okunrinbido in the Lawanson area of Surulere, his father, Olasunkanmi, said: “It happened on Saturday, January 14, 2023. I had given him the key to my tricycle for him to work with. Later that night, I was worried because he had not returned home, which was unlike him, as he does not stay out late.

“When I waited all night and did not see him, I saw his girlfriend who explained what happened. She said some policemen stopped him and one of them wanted to take the key from him. She said he decided to speed off because he was afraid that they would take his tricycle from him.

“One of the policemen jumped into the Police van, chased him and hit the tricycle from the back, causing it to summersault.

“They brought him out of the tricycle, dumped him in their vehicle and drove him to their station. His girlfriend and other eyewitnesses said he was still alive then.

“The next day, we checked for him in all the police stations in the area and came back with nothing. We were worried because if, indeed, something terrible had happened, we should have seen his corpse and the tricycle outside one of the stations.

“At 2 p.m., on January 15, 2023, we went to Area ‘C’, Surulere. At first, none of the policemen wanted to attend to us. They were looking at us suspiciously. Later, one of them invited us to an office upstairs, where we were told that our son was dead.

“They said they didn’t know what happened but that he was dead and had been taken to the mortuary. I was surprised because my son was healthy when he left home.”

Grandmother dies

Younger sister of the deceased, Hannah, told Vanguard that when the news of her brother’s death reached her, “I rushed to inform my grandmother and my mother. We returned home to meet his friend who came to confirm to us that he had died

“We visited the park where the incident happened to find out what really happened. A man we met took us to the mortuary and showed us a video of the incident, yet the police insisted that they didn’t know how it happened.

“The next day, we went back with more family members to the station but they told us only four people could enter. We were then informed that the people who killed him had been locked up at the state Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba and that we had to institute a case against his killers.

“However, our family said they do not want to institute any case, that we only need Paul’s body since he was dead but the Police told us that they cannot release his remains, as it was part of the evidence of the case. Meanwhile, the mortuary attendant told us that they needed a police report before they would release his body to us because it was brought in by the police.

“Mama (grandmother) died a week later because she could not bear the loss.”

When contacted, the Lagos State Police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, said: “The case is under investigation and an autopsy has been carried out.”

But the aunt of the deceased, Mary Akinbami, confirmed that the autopsy result had been released.

She disclosed that the result showed that a gun was used on Paul’s head, which led to internal bleeding in his skull.(Vanguard)

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