The Lagos State police command, has dismissed as untrue, an allegation that it is planning a cover up in the case of David Umoh, a sound engineer lynched by some Okada riders in the Lekki area of the state.
The police command in a statement on Monday by Benjamin Hundeyin, its spokesperson, said the allegation is a unningly-crafted work of fiction ill-intended by some unpatriotic persons and war mongers to cause disaffection, and possibly ethnic war, amongst Nigerians.
“The attention of the Lagos State Police Command has been drawn to a write-up making the rounds on social media by a faceless DSS officer, claiming a cover-up by the Police in the unfortunate lynching of David Imoh on May 12, 2022,” Hundeyin said.
“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.”