Inspector buried alive: Release my husband's corpse, wife begs police

Halima and children

A grieving wife and mother of four, whose police husband, Inspector Musa Sunday, was abducted at Lekki\Ajah area of Lagos State and later buried alive by land speculators, have urged the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris, to release her husband’s corpse to her for burial.

The widow, Sunday Halima, said that her husband was murdered on October 29, 2016 by villagers in Oshoroko community, who were fighting over a disputed land.

The late Sunday Musa

Halima said: “The police said autopsy report will be out in three weeks, but we have not heard anything from them after more than five weeks now. I’m sad and devastated. My husband was full of life when he led a team to that area. He promised to open a shop for me and send me to school in January, but his life was cut short in the most dastardly way. I and my children were thrown into despair. Our children are suffering and they can’t go back to school. I’m begging the IGP to order the release of my husband’s corpse for burial. We need to give him a befitting burial. We want all his killers to face the full wrath of the law.”
Our correspondent visited the Oshoroko community, where the late Inspector was allegedly killed and buried.   The Baale of Oshoroko,  Oba Oyiri, said:  " I was not around when the fight that led to the killing of the police Inspector happened.  It was in the evening of that fateful day that I learnt he was killed. There was a fight between the Amodemaja family and the Ogunbekun family.  The Ogunbekun family, who is the Oba of Lekki went to bring soldiers and OPC boys to attack Amodemaja family. That was what escalated the trouble and led to the murder of that police inspector.”
The Baale further said: “None of my sons’ participated in that fight nor killed the policeman. When we went to the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2, and office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, nobody accused me of starting the fight. After they killed the Inspector, they took his gun to the Oba of Lekki.
“Immediately I heard about the killing of the policeman, I informed the Oba of Lekki since he is the paramount ruler in this area. I did not know how they buried the Inspector. It was the Oba of Lekki that brought a list of wanted persons from the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS). I used the list to look for the men involved. I didn’t know how people in my community got involved in the fight between the Amodemaja family and the Ogunbekun family. They are the one that came to my community.”
Oyiri explained that in the course of investigations, police arrested in connection with the murder of Sunday, but later released him after they fought out that he was innocent.
He said: “It is the community members that want to compensate the family, but I have assured the police that I would assist in getting those involved in the murder arrested.”
Our correspondent also visited the paramount ruler of Lekki, His Royal Highest Oba Muyiwa Ogunbekun.
Stating his own side of the story, Ogunbekun said: “None of the people arrested stated that I was involved or I participated in the killing. There is no land dispute between me and the Amodemaja family. The real cause of the problem is struggle over the ‘Obaship’ of the town. That matter, is however, already in the court.  Before October 29, 2016, after Inspector was murdered, the Amodemaja family members invaded my domain in Lekki from October 9, and for 20 days, held my people hostage.
“I reported the matter to Akodo Police Station, but the police couldn’t do anything. That was what prompted me to write to the military; the military came and arrested them. I’m a law abiding citizen.  I didn’t use OPC for anything. It was in February, when the Lagos State Commissioner of Police came to my town that I learnt about the killing of the Inspector. I was the one that got the list of the people alleged in the killing and assisted police to arrest them because I don’t support the killing. I took the policeman’s gun to the police commissioner. I didn’t know how the policeman was killed.”
Speaking on the allegations levelled against the Amodemaja family by Oba Muyiwa Ogunbekun, that they invaded his domain, which prompted him to invite the soldiers, the Secretary to the Amodemaja family Prince Adekunle Amodemaja, on behalf of the family, said: “There is no truth in the allegation that we invaded Lekki.  We are law abiding citizens. We were working on our land that fateful day when soldiers from Bonny Cantonment, in company of OPC, led by Muyiwa Ogunbekun, attacked us. They took some of us to the cantonment. We have been facing constant attacks from the Ogunbekun’s family. There was a time they poured petrol on our family members in a bid to set us on fire and kill us.”
Adekunle Amodemaja further said: “We are law abiding citizens. The Inspector was not hired by us. He was on patrol with his team when he was abducted and murdered. There had been a suit against the Ogunbekun family over the chieftaincy of Lekki . Our forefather, Ifasanya Adeyinka Amodemaja, was the first settler in Lekki and we have documents to prove this. The Ogunbekun family used their brother, Moshood Ogunbekun, who was a member of Lagos State Assembly, during the era of former governor of Lagos State, Lateef Jakande, to take over the ‘Obaship’ of Lekki.
“We went to court in 2003 against them, but government forcefully installed Muyiwa Ogunbekun as the Oba. We have sued the Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area, the Lagos State Government and the Attorney General of the State over the chieftaincy of Lekki. Muyiwa Ogunbekun, through their Solicitor,  Olademiji  Longe, wrote us a  letter that they wanted out of court settlement, but we refused. The Ogunbekun family through their counsel filed a preliminary objection, but it was struck out and they were awarded a fine of N10, 000 for wasting the time of the court. Meanwhile there had been an order by Justice A O Oyekan Abdullahi on February 28, 2007, that the two families should maintain status quo, but they violated that order.”