Madam
Beatrice Oyesolu, 75, the mother of twin brothers shot dead on Saturday by a trigger-happy
drunken policeman guarding Paulson Hotel on Anibaba Street, Ketu-Ikosi, Lagos,
says the promises her children made to her had been shattered.
The septuagenarian said the children
─ Taiye, a naval officer and Kehinde, an engineer ─ had concluded plans to
start building her a house next month before the tragedy struck.
The drunken policeman, Stephen
James, with Force number 217884, had opened fire on the brothers and their
friend, Jeje, who was celebrating his birthday on the fateful day. The trio had
cautioned him to stop harassing customers, who reportedly declined to buy him
bottles of beer.
James, said to be a drug addict and
notorious for shooting sporadically, killed the twins and their friend before
he shot himself dead.
It took entreaties from residents
around the hotel to stop the angry mob who wanted to set the facility on fire.
Sympathizers thronged a house in the
community, where the twins’ mother, who lived in Mile 12, was brought to. The sympathizers
rallied round her as she cried uncontrollably.
She said, “I just came back from
church yesterday when they broke the news of their death to me. The government
should help me because Taiye and Kehinde were the only hope I have. I have been
stripped naked because they are my clothes. Who will I turn to now?
“They promised me a lot of things
next year. They wanted to start building a house on my parcel of land next
month. This is the seventh month after the death of their father.”
A relative, who did not want his
name in print, demanded that the police should be made to compensate the mother
of the deceased.
He said, “Why was he given a gun
when they knew he was a drunk? The police must be sued. They should also pay
compensation to the mother.”
The aunt of the deceased, Mrs.
Afusat Salaudeen, said the death was a big loss to the entire family.
She said, “They were very caring.
They were the ones sponsoring their elder brother’s son who is in a
polytechnic. That brother had been missing for 10 years now. They were
easy-going persons.”
Beatrice’s sister, identified only
as Iya Ijesha, said, “They were God-fearing children. They never let their
mother lack anything.”
A resident around the hotel, Segun
Elphus, said the policeman nearly killed his friends and three of his younger
brothers last month. He said he advised the supervising manager of the hotel to
send James away.
He said, “The policeman was posted
here about three months ago. He threatened to kill my friends, who visited me
from England last month. My three younger brothers intervened. He nearly shot
them.
“Yesterday, he was drunk. Jeje was
outside the hotel smoking and he told him to leave. They were still on it when
he shot him. Taiye tried to approach him; he shot him. He shot Kehinde while he
was fleeing.
Another resident, Dele, said the
fatalities would have been more if he was allowed to enter the hotel.
He said, “After he had killed the
three guys, he wanted to enter the hotel premises, but the gate had been locked
from inside. He was frustrated and shot himself. Sometime when he was drunk, he
would say ‘I go kill 30 people, I go kill myself…no case.’
The hotel was under lock and key as
of 3pm on Sunday when one of Punch correspondents left the area.
The Lagos State Commissioner of
Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, during a visit to the scene of the crime on Sunday
condemned the act of the late officer, saying it betrayed the ethics preached
by the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase.
Owoseni, who also visited the family
of the victims, said investigation was ongoing to ascertain whether the late
policeman who committed the dastardly act was on authorised duty at the hotel
or not.
He said, “The incident is a
devastating one and it is normal for me to visit the scene of the crime. It is
also important to see the family of the victims. The IG is aware and saddened
by the development. The action of the killer-cop negates what the IG preaches
about. The IG has said policemen should not be posted to unauthorised places.
The action of the cop negates all of that.
“As a measure to prevent occurrences
like this, we have always put up monitoring in place to check the activities of
policemen anywhere they may be serving to ensure that they conform to rules and
regulation. We are doing everything to ensure that this type of sad incident
does not happen again,” he said.
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