Family of 21-yr-old boy killed by VIO in Akure raises alarm

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The continued retention of the corpse of  a 21-year-old boy, Olalekan Olatosin, in Akure, the Ondo State capital by a government-owned hospital, over the inability of his grieving parents to pay N450,000, has only served to add to the grief of the family. How he died Olalekan was killed by three unidentified Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) who, in the course of chasing the driver of a car they wanted to arrest, it hit the boy.   He died two days after in a hospital established by the state located in Ondo town.

Family of 21-yr-old boy killed by VIO in Akure raises alarm
Family of 21-yr-old boy killed by VIO in Akure raises alarm

Olalekan was born to the family of Mr. William Kokumo Olatosin (father) and Sidikatu Olatosin (mother) of Ado-Ekiti Road, Gloryland area in Akure the state capital. Holding of corpse Most painful to the parents of the deceased is the fact that the state-owned hospital, as at the time of filing this report, have refused to release the corpse of late Olalekan over the non-payment of N450,000 charges for treatment and mortuary services. Intimidation of the family They were particularly pained that government officials who they alleged, were aware of the incident, could not show concern over the loss of life of their beloved son, especially at a time they couldn’t even foot the bill. Family lawyer opens up In a detailed account given to Crime Alert, the family lawyer, Barrister Jimoh Saliu, expressed disappointment that the police in the state were intimidating the family by insinuating that the state government has an interest in the case.

The lawyer’s account stated that, “On the 7th of April, 2016, there was an accident along Sango Road, near Shasha Market, Akure, which finally led to the death of one Olalekan Olatosin.

The accident occurred as vehicle Inspection officers were chasing a car when the driver failed to stop at their checkpoint. The VIO officials speedily ran after the driver which made them to hit and kill the victim. Confession by VIO officials “The victim was rushed to a private hospital named Joe-Jane and there he was referred to Trauma Centre, Ondo State, when his condition was very critical.  Two days later, he gave up the ghost.

At the point where the accident occurred,  three VIO officials were arrested.   When the residents were beating the officials, one of them confessed that they were making efforts to beat the targets which had been given to them by the Ondo State government through one of the Commissioners. “After much chaos, the officials were handed over to the team of policemen  headed by DPO Ijapo Divisional Headquarters, Mr. Ogunfolabi Felix Abayomi, who later declared that he had transferred the matter to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, along Oda Road, Akure. Police rigmarole “Throughout the painful period of the victim at Trauma Centre, in Ondo, the Police did not make any investigation in respect of the matter.  Rather, they were asking the family of the victim to go and get money to treat their son.

Contradictory response The most pathetic part of the story is that the family members of the deceased who had visited Ijapo Divisional Police Headquarters were informed that the matter had been transferred to SARS while the police at SARS gave contradictory response that the matter was at Ijapo.” Lawyer petitions CP The lawyer, Jimoh Saliu, who on behalf of the family visited the two Police stations, also heard the same responses from the Police.  Based on this, the family lawyer sent a petition to the Ondo State Commissioner of Polic alleging that the DPO and police oifficers at SARS were conspiring to the suspected VIO officials that killed the son of his client. However, according to the lawyer, the susepcts were never detained.


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