Police chief slumps, dies in patrol van

Men of the Lagos State Police Command have been plunged into mourning, following the sudden death of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Langbasa station.

The police chief, Mr. James Wakama, was said to have dropped death in a patrol van, while on incident duty with his policemen.

Langbasa Police Station, is located along the Ajah Lekki, axis of Lagos State.

It was gathered that immediately Wakama slumped the van, his men had rushed to hospital, but he was confirmed dead by doctors on arrival at the hospital.

On the fateful day of his death, Wakama received a distress call from an apparently petrified woman at about 2am, claiming that three men were trying to force their way into her flat.

Thinking the men were robbers, Wakama gathered a team of policemen and they had raced to the scene.

They were however deflated when they arrived the scene to discover it a false alarm. When the policemen angrily challenged the woman, she insisted that she heard the sound of a vehicle and feared the worst.

One of the policemen said that this particular woman had always been in the habit of playing such pranks. She would make a distress call, and whenever policemen reached there, it would be a prank.

The policemen had ever always raced to attend her distress calls, never knowing when she could be in real danger. The woman is said to be single and seemed to live alone.

When Wakama realized that it was a crank call, he mobilized his men and they boarded the van, intending to head back to their station.

As soon as he sat on the van’s seat, Wakama slumped.

Wakama is in his 50 and would have retired in two years time from the Nigeria Police Force. He left behind, a wife and about four children.

It was also learnt that he had health issue. One his men, said he had been having problem with high blood pressure.

Most policemen, across the globe, but especially in Nigeria, are often faced with a lot of stressors, which come with the job. Many of the work round the clock and hardly ever have off duty. Even their off-duty, comes with other police duty.

Policemen deny themselves good rest and sleep, just to meet up with the job.