NO JUSTICE FOR SLAIN BADAGRY POLICE STATION OFFICERS TWO YEARS AFTER GRUSOME MURDER BY SOLDIERS
BY PATIENCE OGBO
May 25th 2013 marks  the second year three police officers were brutally murdered by suspected soldiers attached to the 243 Recce Battalion Barracks, Ibereko,  Badagry  in Lagos State .
Sadly, their murder which was premeditated has been swept under the carpet family members of the slain officers’ alleged.
The police officers were  the  late Divisional Police Officer, Badagry Police Station, Samuel Salisu,  the Divisional Crime Officer, Samson Okedusi  and late Assistant Superintendent of Police, Taofeek Afolabi, killed by the soldiers after a  peace meeting at the 242 Recce Battalion Barracks  .
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 an anti-riot police officer attached to the  Lagos State security outfit, the Rapid Response Squad (RRS)during a scuffle at a check-point in Badagry on may 23 2011.
It was gathered that soldiers in camouflage uniform ambushed, shot and killed the unsuspecting police officers. The DPO’s head was smashed with stones and he died on the spot, the DCO was stoned and shot  several times and he too gave up the ghost but the ASP sustained gunshot wounds and later died in the hospital few days later .
 As if this was not dehumanizing enough, the soldiers ensured they left The DPO and DCO corpses   under the sun by the road side for more than six hours and dared anybody not to remove them as they kept watch over the corpses. The soldiers  allowed the corpses to be removed after they got an order from an unnamed superior officer.
 There was public outcry over the gruesome murder of the policemen while the family members called for justice and compensation.
Despite the anguish and plea for justice, families of the slain officers are angry with the police authority for sweeping the murders under the carpet and gross failure to fish out the killers two years After the policemen were killed
 Mrs  Temitayo Okedusi stated that the police and the government who made promises of fishing out her husband’s killers have abandoned her family  as they have  failed to arrest and prosecute the killers .
“It has not been easy all ,financially and personally it  has  not been easy at all, no helper, nobody. The people who promised they are going to do this and do that I have not seen anybody. The little business I do is what we have been using to feed. We have not been able to access his gratuity because of the 10% commission the Probate court is asking for.
 They asked us to bring letter of Administration from the Probate court so the court told us to go and calculate his entire money in the bank and pay 10% of the money to the Probate court but we do not have the money to pay the court and this is delaying us from getting his gratuity and other entitlements.  The commission the probate court is asking for  and the legal fee will cost us N330,000 and I don’t have that money .The family is in a tight corner as the   bank needs this letter of administration before the money in his account can be released . So we are suffering not being able to access all these money”” Mrs Okedusi said.
 Mrs Okedusi added that she felt abandoned as there has not been any news to cheer her  up that her husband’s killers have been arrested.
“I feel so sad because the serving policemen are not helping the wives of the dead officers . They did not assist widows of their dead officers. My husband   died on active duty trying to solve a rift between the police and the army. This is very sad and devastating but God has been helping us. 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 such a gruesome manner. The government has a day set aside for remembering the fallen soldiers but there is no recognition for the policemen killed fighting to protect this country. This is not fair and the government should set a day aside to remember fallen policemen also.
In my husband’s case, I will continue to demand for justice. I want the government to find my husband’s killers and bring them to book.  The family wants justice and if I have money, I would have taken  the government ,and the police and army to court for sweeping the death of my husband under the carpet” Mrs Okedusi said .
During the  lying- in -state ceremony  at the police headquarters Ikeja , the recitation read    that the slain officers had contributed immensely to the uplifting of the police Force as under their leadership, the Badagry police station won the the Altus Global Alliance, Annual Police Station Visitors Week (PSVW) in 2010  . It was gathered that the late DPO, Samuel Salisu, served the police for more than twenty years while the DCO, Samson Okedusi was killed five months to his retirement from the Force.Innocent Chukwuma the Chief Executive officer of CLEEN Foundation while paying tribute to the slain officers during the one year remembrance said “It is unfortunate that the police officers were brutally murdered as the Badagry Police Station under their leadership won an Altus award last year,” he said. We were told when they were killed by the soldiers that the police and the military will set up a panel to investigate that heinous crime. As we speak to you today, neither the report of that panel has been made”.
It can be recalled that Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State, assured the family In his condolence  letter to the family that the government will  fish out the killers and bring them to face the full wrath of the law.
 The letter  delivered to the Okedusi family by the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, Council Manager Mr. Olaleye.read“ I write to offer the deepest and most heartfelt condolences of myself, my family, the government and people of Lagos State over the tragic loss of your husband and father, Superintendent of Police Samson Okedusi while on official service of his nation.I am indeed lost of words at the circumstances that led to his painful loss but I am given solace, as I pray you are, by the knowledge that though we may sometimes be tested in our faith, God’s  will is the ultimate determinant of our fates.
I have been assured by the relevant authorities that those responsible for the dastardly act shall be identified and made to face the full wrath of the law and I undertake to see that this is done. Your husband and father was a diligent, honest, fearless and gallant man who committed his whole life to the service of humanity and our hearts and thoughts are with you at this difficult time”
The family in a speech delivered by the deceased younger brother, Dr.  Michael Okedusi  during the laying in state ceremony called on the then  Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, to set up  an independent panel of inquiry to probe the gruesome murder of the officers.
“We will not succumb to threat, intimidation and compromise or any other alternative than justice. We are once again calling on all human right groups, both local an