Lekki: Police arrest another mob attack suspect

The police in Lagos have arrested another suspect involved in the mob attack leading to the death of a sound engineer, David Imoh, in Lekki.

The police had arrested six suspects in connection to the death of Mr Imoh.

In a statement, on Monday, Benjamin Hundeyin, the police spokesperson in the state, said a total of seven people have now been arrested.

“A seventh suspect, Usman Abubakar, aged 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,” the statement said.

‘Fake news’

The police also debunked a viral WhatsApp message that claimed that the suspects received N100,000 to admit to the murder.

“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, 2022,” Mr Hundeyin said.

The police said when they arrived at the crime scene, they arrested four suspects and rescued the other two persons under attack.

“It is therefore ridiculous, frivolous, and laughable that the suspects were allegedly paid a miserly One Hundred Thousand Naira each to admit and take the fall for murder,” the statement reads.

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“Further investigation by the State Criminal Investigation Department led to the arrest of two other suspects. All six suspects were paraded before the press by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Abiodun Alabi, fdc, mnim, psc on May 20, 2022.”

Viral message

In an article purportedly written by an SSS operative who identified himself as Adio Oluwole Bashir, the police had arrested 11 suspects, mostly northerners, in connection to the mob attack.

Mr Bashir claimed that he almost suffered a heart attack when he saw on television that the suspects were replaced by six people, including a female.

But the police said the officer is unknown to the SSS, adding that the operation was carried out by its operatives from the Maroko division.