Oyo police claims suspect commits suicide in cell as relatives cry foul

Police claims the suspect committed suicide in his cell.

Relatives of a 28-year-old night guard have alleged police complicity in his death.

Mr. Lukman, a guard at the Agodi spare parts market, Ibadan, was allegedly tortured to death by police officers at Gate 2 division of Oyo State police command.

However, the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor, said the police had no hand in the death, insisting that the suspect committed suicide while in the cell where he had been detained.

Mr. Lukman was arrested last Friday for burglary at the ceramic and aluminum section of the market where he was employed as a night guard. A gang of robbers had raided the area the night before and the police, during their investigations, had asked market leaders who reported the case to name their suspect. They pointed an accusing finger at Mr. Lukman who was promptly arrested.

He was arrested on Friday and locked up in the police cell but when his family came to visit him on Sunday, he was found dead in his cell. Members of his family and even the spare parts dealer at the market, however, doubt the police’s claim of suicide.

“His cell mate were there. They can testify to it. Physical examination on his body shows that his tongue was outside. How can anybody say he was tortured to death,” Ms. Okuwobi-Ilobanafor asked in the police’s defense.

She, nonetheless, hinted that the Police Commissioner, Mohammed Ndabawa, had ordered a full investigation to the matter, adding that an autopsy has been carried out on the corpse.

Family members have since claimed the corpse for burial but youth at Irefin area where Mr. Lukman lived have geared up for a showdown, suspecting that the police might want to sweep the case under the carpet.

-@Premium Times

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