Hoodlums Kill Lagos Police Chief Months To Retirement
Fresh facts have emerged on how hoodlums gruesomely murdered Kazeem Abonde, a Chief Superintendent of Police attached to the Lagos Police Command in the Ajao Estate area of the state.
Abonde was killed nine months to his retirement from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and on the way to becoming a full-time legal practitioner at a chamber based in Osogbo, Osun State.
Reports said the Police officer was lynched on Thursday, September 23, 2021, during a joint operation to enforce the ban on motorcycles plying restricted routes in Lagos state while the hoodlums destroyed one of the police operational vans taken to the neighbourhood.
Reports indicate the raid was handled by a tactical team comprising personnel from the Operations Department of the State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, Rapid Response Squad, and the Ajao Estate Police Division.
Spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the team, which also raided flashpoints in the area, was about exiting the estate when the hoodlums suddenly struck in huge numbers.
Ajisebutu’s statement on Friday said; “After the successful operations, which led to the arrest of some suspects, other criminal elements and hoodlums in their large numbers laid siege on the exit of the estate and attacked the policemen with guns, cutlasses and other weapons.
“Unfortunately, during the fatal attack, CSP Kazeem Sumonu Abonde attached to the Operations Department of the command was brutally killed by the hoodlums.
“The DPO Ajao Estate, CSP Abdullahi Malla and other police officers equally sustained varying degrees of injury. The corpse of the deceased officer has been deposited at the Yaba Mainland Hospital for autopsy.”
Ajisebutu said the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, had ordered investigation into the incident and vowed to ensure those responsible for the dastardly act would be brought to book.
A colleague of the deceased, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that Abonde was supposed to retire from the Force in June 2022 and had planned to practise as a lawyer afterwards.
“He was already preparing for his retirement. He was a lawyer and wanted to join a chamber he co-founded in Osun after retirement. Abonde was a fine officer and we will sorely miss him,” the colleague said.
Another source close to the late Abonde said the 54-year-old slain officer was enlisted in the Nigeria Police Force in June 1987 and rose through the ranks to a CSP in June 2019, lamenting that his death was devastating.
“He studied Law at the Lagos State University. He graduated in 2014 and proceeded to the Law School. He became a barrister in law in 2016 and went back to LASU for a master’s degree. He bagged LLM (Master in Law) in 2019,” the source added.
It was gathered that Abonde, a native of Ona Ara Local Government, Oyo State, was the Divisional Police Officer, Ilemba Hausa, Lagos, before he was posted to DOPs, his last place of assignment where he was the Operation Officer 1.
Meanwhile, the Executive Chairman, Isolo Local Council Development Area, Adebayo Olasoju, has appealed for calm by the residents of Ajao Estate and other concerned parties regarding the attack.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Iskilu Alao, on Friday, said the Chairman, some officials of the Council and the Area Commander, Area D Command had visited the incident scene.
According to the statement; “Ajao Estate being a major entry point to especially foreigners coming into our dear nation deserves the serenity obtainable in a city of equal status in advanced countries.
“While investigation into both the remote and immediate causes of the violence is being carried out, the law-abiding citizens of Ajao Estate are hereby urged to go about their lawful business as there is enough security presence to forestall resurgence.”
Also speaking on the incident, Chairman, Community Development Committee, Isolo LCDA, Adesegun Olatunde, said the executive had stopped movement of Okada within the estate as part of immediate measures to address the violence.
“No Okada is allowed on the estate for now. We are going to have a PCRC (Police Community Relations Committee) meeting to deliberate more on it. Some years back, they (Okada riders) had issues and they went to destroy an armoured tank.
“After that incident, they were not allowed to operate in Ajao Estate. But after the #EndSARS protests, they suddenly resurfaced and started operating.
“On Osolo Way and 7/8 bus stop, you would see them on the road. They were not organised at all. Now, they have created problems for themselves. You cannot kill a senior police officer and go scot-free.”
The Task Force said on Thursday that 410 motorcycles were impounded on prohibited routes in Isolo, Ojodu-Berger, Ojota, Lagos Island, Surulere and Second Rainbow along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. – Additional reports from The Punch
