Two years after the murders of three
police officers attached to the Badagry Police Division on May 25, 2011,
the wife of one of them has decried the inability of the authorities to
bring the killers to justice.
Divisional Police Officer, Samuel
Salisu, Divisional Crime Officer, Samson Okedusi and Assistant
Superintendent of Police, Taofeek Afolabi, were killed by suspected
soldiers attached to the 243 Recce Battalion Barracks, Ibereko, Badagry
in Lagos State.
The slain officers were on a peace
mission to the army barracks, allegedly on the invitation of the
commandant of the barracks, simply identified as Colonel Nabasa, to
settle a rift between the police and the army over the killing of a
staff sergeant allegedly by a riot police officer attached to the Lagos
State security outfit, the Rapid Response Squad on May 23 2011.
The wife of the DCO, Mrs. Temitayo Okedusi, told PUNCH Metro that the police and the government had failed to arrest and prosecute her husband’s killers.
She said, “It is two years now and we
have not heard that anything has been done to those who killed my
husband and other police officers in Badagry.
“In my husband’s case, I will continue
to demand justice. I want the government to find my husband’s killers
and bring them to book. If I had the means, I would have taken the
government, the police and army to court for sweeping the death of my
husband under the carpet.”
Okedusi said the police and most of her
husband’s friends had abandoned the family, adding that it was difficult
to even get her husband’s gratuity.
She said, “The people who promised to
assist us are nowhere to be found. The proceeds from the little business
I do are what we have been living on. Till date, we have not been able
to access my husband’s gratuity because of the 10 per cent commission
the Probate Court is asking for.
“We were asked to get a letter of
Administration from the Probate Court. To do this, we are supposed to
pay 10 per cent of Okedusi’s entire money in the bank to the probate
court first. This will cost us N330,000.
“The family does not have this money and
that is what is delaying us from getting my husband’s gratuity and
entitlements. We are now stranded.”
Okedusi lamented the inability of the
police force and government to take care of the wives and children of
slain police officers.
She said, “Serving policemen are not
helping the wives of the dead officers. Despite the fact that my husband
died in active duty, we have been left alone to fend for ourselves.
“If the government is assisting the
wives of soldiers killed by Boko Haram and militants, they should also
compensate the families of policemen killed in active duty. There is a
day set aside for remembering fallen soldiers, but there is no
recognition for the policemen killed while protecting this country. This
is not fair.”
Samson Okedusi was killed five months to his retirement from the force.
The Chief Executive officer of CLEEN
Foundation, Innocent Chukwuma, during last year’s remembrance, had said
the Badagry Police Station won the Altus Global Alliance, Annual Police
Station Visitors Week Award, under the leadership of the slain officers
in 2010.
Chukwuma had said, “It is unfortunate
that the officers were brutally murdered as the Badagry Police Station,
under their leadership, won an Altus award last year. We were told that
the police and the military will set up a panel to investigate that
heinous crime. As we speak to you today, the report of that panel has
not been seen.”
source: punch metro
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