By Vincent Kalu
The family of Patrick Anosikwa, who was allegedly stabbed to death by a Mobile police operative at Sangotedo in Ajah area of the state last Saturday, has accused the Lagos Police Command of plotting to cover up the matter by shielding the suspect, one Inspector Taofeek Aliyu.
Mr. Austin Anosikwa, a brother to the deceased, told Saturday Sun how the said policeman gruesomely murdered Patrick about 11pm at the mall.
According to him, “Patrick, a trader, had gone out in the evening of Saturday, April 20, 2024, with his fiancé to the relaxation park of the mall, and by the time he was going home, he went to the mall to do some shopping. Later, as he was about to enter his car, a mobile policeman guarding the place came and started harassing him, asking him to part with some money.
“My brother asked him, why, and what offence has he committed that he needed to bribe him? He insisted that he wasn’t going to give him any money. It was that point that the policeman drew his dagger and stabbed him and he died on the way to hospital.”
The matter was incidented at the Ajah Police Division and later transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, disclosed in a statement last Sunday that an investigation into the death of one Anosikwa Patrick, who was allegedly stabbed by a police officer, identified as Inspector Taofeek Aliyu, has commenced.
Hundeyin added that the manager and chief security officer of the mall are already in custody to assist with the investigation.
The family said they were told by the police that the suspect, who was on the run, had been arrested in Niger State and would be brought to Panti last Monday.
“From last Monday till yesterday, Friday, we have been going to Panti, the suspect was yet to be brought there. The way the matter is going, we are afraid that the police may sweep it under the carpet, and it would end up like that.”
Neither the Force PRO, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, nor the Lagos State Police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, could be reached last night.