Wife of policeman killed in Badagry alleges neglect

Two years after the murders of three police officers attached to the Badagry Police Division on May 25, 2011, the wife of one of them has decried the inability of the authorities to bring the killers to justice.

Divisional Police Officer, Samuel Salisu, Divisional Crime Officer, Samson Okedusi and Assistant Superintendent of Police, Taofeek Afolabi, were killed by suspected soldiers attached to the 243 Recce Battalion Barracks, Ibereko, Badagry in Lagos State.

The slain officers were on a peace mission to the army barracks, allegedly on the invitation of the commandant of the barracks, simply identified as Colonel Nabasa, to settle a rift between the police and the army over the killing of a staff sergeant allegedly by a riot police officer attached to the Lagos State security outfit, the Rapid Response Squad on May 23 2011.

The wife of the DCO, Mrs. Temitayo Okedusi, told PUNCH Metro that the police and the government had failed to arrest and prosecute her husband’s killers.

She said, “It is two years now and we have not heard that anything has been done to those who killed my husband and other police officers in Badagry.

“In my husband’s case, I will continue to demand justice. I want the government to find my husband’s killers and bring them to book. If I had the means, I would have taken the government, the police and army to court for sweeping the death of my husband under the carpet.”

Okedusi said the police and most of her husband’s friends had abandoned the family, adding that it was difficult to even get her husband’s gratuity.

She said, “The people who promised to assist us are nowhere to be found. The proceeds from the little business I do are what we have been living on. Till date, we have not been able to access my husband’s gratuity because of the 10 per cent commission the Probate Court is asking for.

“We were asked to get a letter of Administration from the Probate Court. To do this, we are supposed to pay 10 per cent of Okedusi’s entire money in the bank to the probate court first. This will cost us N330,000.

“The family does not have this money and that is what is delaying us from getting my husband’s gratuity and entitlements. We are now stranded.”

Okedusi lamented the inability of the police force and government to take care of the wives and children of slain police officers.

She said, “Serving policemen are not helping the wives of the dead officers. Despite the fact that my husband died in active duty, we have been left alone to fend for ourselves.

“If the government is assisting the wives of soldiers killed by Boko Haram and militants, they should also compensate the families of policemen killed in active duty. There is a day set aside for remembering fallen soldiers, but there is no recognition for the policemen killed while protecting this country. This is not fair.”

Samson Okedusi was killed five months to his retirement from the force.

The Chief Executive officer of CLEEN Foundation, Innocent Chukwuma, during last year’s remembrance, had said the Badagry Police Station won the Altus Global Alliance, Annual Police Station Visitors Week Award, under the leadership of the slain officers in 2010.

Chukwuma had said, “It is unfortunate that the officers were brutally murdered as the Badagry Police Station, under their leadership, won an Altus award last year. We were told that the police and the military will set up a panel to investigate that heinous crime. As we speak to you today, the report of that panel has not been seen.”

PUNCH