The family of Paul Arowolo, a tricycle driver allegedly beaten to death by the police is demanding justice.
Arowolo was allegedly brutalised by three yet-to-be-identified policemen attached to Surulere Area C Command in Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria.
Reports said the policemen on a stop-and-search duty on Saturday intercepted Arowolo’s new tricycle while he was going home with his girlfriend.
The officers were said to have requested for bribe from the deceased which he refused to give them.
This it was learnt angered the policemen who made moves to hijack the tricycle from him.
In the process, Arowolo and his girlfriend were assaulted and brutalised. The former passed out and eventually gave up the ghost.
“Three policemen of Surulere Area C Lagos had lynched Paul Arowolo to death when trying to rob him of his newly bought tricycle. He resisted and was killed and the corpse was seized as well,” a relation of the deceased told SaharaReporters.
“The truth of the matter is that the guy just got the tricycle, and these 3 policemen of that Area C police station planned to hijack it from him after he refused to give them bribe.
“So, when he resisted and raised alarm, he was beaten and lynched to death. His corpse was taken away as well, and the tricycle. We were told that the 3 policemen have been arrested and detained at Panti, Yaba police station. We also heard they have been transferred to State CID.
“But right now, they didn’t release the corpse to us, they told us they want to perform an autopsy, that it’s a government corpse, not ours again. Meanwhile, we’ve also heard they are cooking lies to rope the late boy that hard drugs were found with him and that was what led to the incident.
“They went to dump his corpse in a mortuary and went to keep his tricycle before his girlfriend that was with him that day, exposed the secret. The girl fainted as well when they attacked both of them that day. On Saturday night around 10 pm. It was on Sunday we later heard.
“His corpse was dumped in Atan Mortuary, Yaba. And they went to keep his tricycle after committing the atrocities. We want justice for Paul. Let the policemen that killed him be charged to court so that his spirit can rest. Paul cannot die like that.”