Protest as policewoman kills driver, detains brothers

• It’s not true, says CP

Angry residents of Igando area, Lagos State, yesterday marched on the Igando Police Station to protest the murder of a bus driver and detention of his two brothers.

The deceased, Muyiwa Ijaduola, a commercial bus driver, was allegedly killed on Sunday by a policewoman identified as Corporal Daba Iyabo Abagun, attached to Igando Police Station.
The incident occurred at NNPC bus stop. A witness picked the phone of the driver and called numbers in his phone contact, telling them that Muyiwa had been killed. Pictures of the deceased, taken by some witnesses, showed he was still clutching the money which he wanted to give the policewoman.
Yesterday, family members of the driver said that two of his brothers, Tolulope and Ayodeji Ijaduola, as well as Tolulope’s wife, Zainab, were arrested and detained by the police.
The brothers were arrested for allegedly leading a protest to the police station. Tolulope claimed that the policemen, while harassing him, stole his N7,000. He said police locked him and his brother in a cell for over three hours.
He added that the police also threw a canister of tear gas in the cell. The police were also accused of seizing phones and laptops of witnesses. Some of the witnesses were allegedly beaten and injured.
The Sunday incident was said to have occurred after Ijaduola allegedly refused to part with N200, which Abagun demanded. The deceased said that he could only part with N100, but Abagun and another policewoman refused.
A witness said: “The angry policewoman dragged the driver out of the bus and soon both of them were in a heated argument. The policewoman suddenly shouted; ‘go away with your money’. She pushed the driver.
There was a gutter behind him. As she pushed him, he slipped and fell into the gutter. He hit the back of his head on the concrete as he slipped. “The policewoman went to the passengers in the bus and told them that the driver had an epileptic attack and fell inside the gutter.
She also told them that the driver would soon step out of the gutter. But he died inside the gutter.” Reacting to the incident, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said Ijaduola had an epileptic attack and in the pro- The protesters barricading the road cess of helping him, he fell into the gutter.
He said: “People alleged that the female officer killed him, it couldn’t have been possible since the officer wasn’t armed.” According to Owoseni, the matter was settled on Sunday, only for protesters to hit the road yesterday.
But the family members yesterday said Ijaduola had no history of epileptic. They demanded that police should hand over Ijaduola’s body to them for burial. His elder sister, Mrs. Omolola Oluranti, said: “We are appealing to the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to order the release of our brother’s body.
I was still in church when I received a phone call from a woman that my brother had been pushed into the gutter by a policewoman. “She said Muyiwa died in the process. I rushed to the scene.
I was told what transpired by some traders in the area. I learnt the policewoman is called Daba Iyabo Abagun. She stopped Muyiwa and demanded her usual N200, but Muyiwa told her he could only afford N100.
She dragged him out of his bus; he slipped and fell, hitting his head on the concrete.” According to her, some men in the bus came down and went to the gutter; they discovered that Ijaduola was dead.
She added: “The policewoman escaped being lynched by an angry mob. When other family members and I got to the station on Sunday to ask for his remains, we were told the body had been deposited at Isolo General Hospital mortuary.
When we got to the General Hospital, we were told that there was no corpse with such a description. “When we probed further, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Igando said the body was at Ikorodu mortuary.
We are appealing to the police to release the corpse for burial. “Three of our family members were arrested and detained by the policemen. They claimed that our family members wanted to set their station on fire.
Vehicles of Muyiwa’s colleagues, who followed us to the station, were vandalised by policemen.” Mr Ayoade Emmanuel, another family member, said: “All we want is for his body to be released to us.
We want the police to produce the policewoman who killed Muyiwa. We gathered this was the third time such an incident was happening at Igando station.