Thursday, March 6, 2025 - A six-year-old girl has been killed during a race between men of the Lagos state police command and a suspect criminal in the Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos state today, March 5.
The father of the deceased, Nnamdi Ugorji, told SaharaReporters that
officers from the Moshalashi Police Station were in pursuit of a suspect when
they fatally struck his daughter at the Ecobank roundabout in Iyana-Ipaja.
“The police were chasing someone, and in the process, they hit my
daughter with their vehicle. My daughter with her siblings went to EcoBank to
withdraw money from the ATM. While they were returning, a speeding car ran over
my daughter and killed her," Ugorji said
He accused the police of attempting to cover up the incident by falsely
claiming that the car had somersaulted.
“It is obvious to anyone who comes to see the car that they are lying
about it somersaulting. The car is at the police station, but they want to
cover up their crime to exonerate themselves. The police officers are the ones
who caused this problem, and they are lying. My baby was only 6 years old — she
was my first daughter," Ugorji added, his voice filled with emotion.
He explained that he was at his workplace in Ogba when he received the
news that his daughter had been k!lled by police officers chasing a suspect.
"Why would police officers, who are responsible for preventing and
detecting crime, maintaining law and order, and protecting lives and property,
lie about the car somersaulting when nothing of the sort happened? They know
what they did to my child. They also have children they protect—would they pray
for such a thing to happen to them? Why are they lying? Don’t they fear God and
the Last Day?" he lamented
The distraught father said his daughter’s body would be transported to
their village in Abia State for a proper burial. He called on President Bola
Tinubu, the Minister of Women Affairs, and the Inspector-General of Police,
Kayode Egbetokun, to intervene and ensure the officers responsible for his
daughter’s death were brought to justice.
"Now I don’t know what to do. As a poor man, where will I get the
money to take her to the village for burial? It is very unfortunate that those
who are supposed to protect us are the ones killing us. I am calling on all
well-meaning Nigerians to come to my aid. I want justice for my daughter,"
he pleaded
However, reacting to the incident, the Lagos State Police Command
spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, he said contrary to the claims, it was a
commercial bus that hit the deceased.
‘’We sympathize with the family of the deceased. However, preliminary
investigations have shown that the girl was hit by a commercial bus whose
driver panicked and recklessly sped off at the sight of an approaching police
van.
The driver is in custody and investigation is ongoing.''
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