Fresh facts have revealed the gruesome manner in which a Chief Superintendent of Police attached to the Lagos State Police Command, Kazeem Abonde, was murdered on Thursday by hoodlums in the Ajao Estate area of the state.
Abonde, who was also a lawyer, was killed nine months to his retirement from the Nigeria Police Force and become a full-time legal practitioner at a chamber based in Osogbo, Osun State, REPORTERS AT LARGE learnt on Friday.
He was lynched during a joint operation on the enforcement of the ban on motorcycles plying restricted routes in the state while one of the police operational vans Taken to the neighbourhood was destroyed.
The raid was reportedly carried out by a tactical team comprising operatives 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.
Abonde of the Operations Department of the Lagos State Command was brutally killed during an attack by suspected hoodlums at Ajao Estate, Lagos, on Thursday.
Also, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Ajao Estate, CSP Abdullahi Malla and some other police officers sustained varying degrees of injuries during the attack.
Confirming the incident, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu (ANIPR), said: “The Lagos State Police Command lost one of its finest officers during a raid on criminal hideouts in Ajao Estate, Lagos State yesterday, 23rd September 2021.”
Ajisebutu, in a release, said the incident occurred when tactical teams of the Command, comprising men drawn from RRS, Taskforce, Ajao Estate Division and other divisions were carrying out raids of identified flashpoints and enforcing the ban on the use of motorcycles in restricted areas in the Estate and similar places in the state.
He said the exercise was a routine proactive approach aimed at curtailing activities of armed robbers and other criminal elements in the state, adding that similar exercises were carried out in the past in other parts of the state which have resulted in a reduction in crimes in the areas.
“After the successful operations which led to the arrest of some of the suspects, other criminal elements and hoodlums in their large number laid siege to the exit of the Estate and attacked the policemen with guns, cutlasses and other dangerous 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 injuries. The corpse of the deceased officer has been deposited at the Yaba Mainland Hospital for autopsy.
“The Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, while condemning the attack on the policemen who were carrying out legitimate duty at the time, has directed that a discreet investigation into the incident should be carried out immediately,” he said.
The Lagos Police PPRO however said CP Odumosu has equally vowed to ensure that all suspects responsible for the dastardly act would be brought to book soon.
“The CP has promised that this mournful incident would not dampen the morale of the Command or discourage it from carrying out its statutory duties of protecting lives and property of the citizens in Lagos State,” he added.
