Court Remands Two Suspected Killers Of LASTMA Officer

The killed LASTMA official

LAGOS – A Lagos State Magistrate Court has ordered the remand of two suspects who allegedly assaulted and killed a Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) officer, Ola Oyeshina, in Apapa on Saturday.

The suspects, Abdullahi Akere, 31, and Nurudeen Ogungbe, 41, were docked before a magistrate court sitting in Yaba, on a two-count charge bordering on attack and murder of a law enforcement officer.

The duo had been detained since Saturday by the police after the attack which occurred at Sifax-Iganmu axis of Apapa at about 6 p.m.

They both pled not guilty to the charge preferred against them.

The presiding Chief Magistrate, Kikelomo Bukola Ayeye, ordered their remand following the application brought by the police, the request for remand by virtue of Section 264 of Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2015 (ACJL 2015).

Before the she ordered their remand, the chief magistrate, however, inquired into the reason for the request and circumstance under which the defendant was arrested.

The second defendant, Ogungbe, informed the court that he was an eye-witness. He said he saw the LASTMA encounter with the uniform Mopol on duty at the spot where he was killed.

He said, “The first defendant and I were passersby; we were arrested on raid. We were not involved. I promise to assist the police on the investigation. I am a member of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Apapa.”

The Chief Magistrate therefore ordered that the defendants be remanded in custody pending final investigation and advice from the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP).

She thereafter adjourned the matter till January 28, 2020.

The counts against the defendants read, “That Abdullahi Akere, Nurudeen Ogungbe and others now at large, on 29th day of November, 2019, at about 1800 hrs at Ijora-Badia, Lagos State in the Lagos Magistrate District, did conspire among yourself to commit felony to wit: murder; an offence punishable under Section 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

“That Abdullahi Akere, Nurudeen Ogungbe, and others now at large, on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned magistrate district, did kill one Ola Oyeshina, age – 40 years, by hitting him with stone on his head and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 222 and punishable under Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.”

It would be recalled that the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, visited relatives of the deceased and assured them that the government would not condone any form of disobedience to the laws of the state.

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