POLICE ACCUSED OF SHIELDING KILLER COP…AS BODY OF SLAIN ARTISAN ROTS IN MORTUARY
Wale Erinfolami, who was allegedly felled by police bullets (l), and
the Acting Inspector General of Police, Usman
Alkali Baba.
The family of slain 28 year-old artisan, Wale
Erinfolami, who was allegedly felled by police bullets, has accused the police
handling the case of shielding the police officer fingered as the culprit who
pulled the trigger that sent him to his early grave.
The incident, now being handled by the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja, is sequel to a mayhem reportedly unleashed by a detachment of no fewer than 15 mobile police officers at a contentious parcel of land in Oke Ota Ona area of Ikorodu, Lagos State in March, 2021.
A family member who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity disclosed that over 45 days after Wale was felled by Police bullets, his body is still languishing in the mortuary with the family not given permission to see his remains.
“If this is not enough cause of agony for the hapless family, how else does one describe the long and winding process of investigations by the Police that seems to be heading nowhere?” the family member quipped.
Our correspondent discovered that the autopsy that was meant to be carried out by the Police as a prelude to determine the direction of their investigation and prosecution is yet to be carried out. And further checks by Issueplusdaily’ revealed that the apex body of criminal investigations in the country, the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) resident in Abuja, the federal capital, which is saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the investigation is bogged down by bureaucratic bottlenecks on who and when to carry out the autopsy. The reasons for the dilly dally, we learnt, may not be unconnected with paucity of financial logistics for the job.
Confessional video of policeman accused of killing Wale Erinfolami...
According to source close to the office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police FCID, (Homicide Department), the Police have many contending financial issues on its hand and the late Wale Erinfolami’s incident is just one of them. The source hinted that though approval has been given for the autopsy to be carried out, the go ahead is not backed by the necessary facilitations. The source further disclosed that with a situation of this nature, nothing could be done except if any of the interested parties to the matter was ready to provide the logistics.
Hear the source: “The implication of a situation where parties to a criminal matter before the police will be invited to render financial assistance to enable the Police do its job would amount to compromised investigation. Therefore if the police would not muster funds to undertake the autopsy, and the parties to the matter would not sponsor the forensic, Wale Erinfolami would continue to lay stone cold in the morgue while the family continues to wait in perpetuity to see their loved one given a befitting burial.”
Another front to the anguish of the Erinfolamis, we also learnt, is the realization that the Policeman that was apprehended as the prime suspect in the unfortunate incident, Ishaq Sikiru, has been released on bail not at FCID, but in SCID, Panti Lagos.
While Sikiru and 14 other Policemen who were reported to have led the onslaught on the parcel of land on the fateful day are said to be walking about as free men, their civilian cohorts who were apprehended alongside Sikiru are still being detained.
This fact was confirmed by the head of the Police Complaints Response Unit (CRU), domiciled in Force Headquarters, Abuja, (an IG’s office spinoff to attend to all complains), CSP Marcus. The debonair cop told our correspondent that a signal has been sent to Ishaq Sikiru through the head of his Mobile Unit in Ibadan, where he and his colleagues who carried out the dastardly act, to report to Abuja for interrogation on the 20th of April, 2021. CSP Marcus made available to our correspondent the signal (memo) but regretted that as at 22nd April when we spoke with him (Marcus) Sikiru was yet to report.
Marcus who said they were acting on a petition sent to his office by one Benson, the surveyor of the contentious parcel of land which complained about the unbecoming attitude of some unscrupulous policemen to render filthy unofficial services to land grabbers and speculators without recourse to their statutory engagement, informed that they were planning to send a reminder to the head of Sikiru’s Mobile unit.
“We want to know whether he was on official duty, and who signed the order. We would also want to know how many of them were at the scene. But these we cannot determine until he honours our invitation,” Marcus said.
When pressed further to know the implication of Sikiru declining the invitation, Marcus said, “Then we may have to bring the matter to the attention of the Inspector-General who we report to directly.”
Issueplusdaily’s attempt to speak with the head, FCID, Mr. Egbunike, DIG, on the investigations which has assumed a wobbly episode, was not successful. Several phone calls to his office were answered by his aides, who advised that we send a text message to him. We did and he eventually gave us an appointment for next Wednesday 5th May, 2021. We shall keep you posted on the outcome of our interview.
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