Lagos police: No plan to cover up David Imoh’s killing

Lagos police commissioner, Abiodun Alabi

The Lagos State Police Command says there is no cover-up in the case of David Imoh who was killed and burnt by some motorcyclists in the Lekki area of the state.

The command made this known via a statement issued by its spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, on Monday.

The statement read: “The attention of the Lagos State Police Command has been drawn to a write-up making the rounds on social media by a faceless DSS officer, claiming a cover-up by the police in the unfortunate lynching of David Imoh on May 12.

“The Command wishes to debunk this write-up as nothing but a cunningly-crafted work of fiction, ill-intended by some unpatriotic persons and war-mongers to cause disaffection, and possibly ethnic war among Nigerians.”

Hundeyin noted that officers from the command arrived the location of the incident on time, arrested four suspects, and saved two other victims.

He added that further investigation by the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department led to the arrest of two other suspects.

He stated that all the six suspects were paraded before journalists by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, on Friday, May 20.

The police spokesman added: “The Command again confirms that the Divisional Police Officer, Maroko Division, arrived at the crime scene, promptly arrested four suspects and rescued the two other persons under attack.

“The numerous arrests, some of whom made videos, can attest to this.

“It is, therefore, ridiculous, frivolous and laughable that the suspects were allegedly paid a miserly N100,000 each to admit and take the fall for murder.

“Further investigation by the State Criminal Investigation Department led to the arrest of two other suspects.

“All the six suspects were paraded before the media by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Abiodun Alabi, on Friday, May 20.

“The seventh suspect, Usman Abubakar, 22 (not the mastermind), who literally poured petrol on the victim, was eventually arrested the next day.

“This brings the total number of arrested suspects to seven,” Hundeyin noted.

The police spokesperson added that the Director of the Department of State Services in Lagos State confirmed to Alabi that the alleged officer was unknown to them as he equally confirmed that the DSS neither arrested nor handed over any suspect to the police.

He quoted the police commissioner as urging Nigerians to disregard the write-up, saying it was a mischievous attempt by some fifth columnists to cause trouble within the country.

The Star