13th December, 2010
Tragedy struck at Ebute-Metta, Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria at the weekend when two members of the Neighbourhood Watch of Nigeria attached to the Lagos Mainland Local Government Area, were killed while on duty.
Those killed by the unidentified gunmen were Chief Ade Rotimi Adebowale Fakoya, the commander of the group in Ebute Metta and Comrade Fatai Hussain.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the deceased were on patrol when the assailants confronted them and shot them to death at the Ibadan/Osholake junction, Ebute-Metta.
Comrade Olusegun Adebojo, a member of the Neighbourhood Watch, who was at scene of the incident, described their killing as assassination.
According to him, “the commander was on patrol. He was checking other members on duty. When he got to my house, I told him to wait for me because I was fetching water, but as I was coming back, I saw a car and three persons with guns came down and said ‘this is the man.’ They fired him and the other person that was with him.
“The men pursued me but I hid myself in an uncompleted building. After they had killed them, one of them said, ‘sebi you wan be commander, yeye man, go and be the commander now.’
“After they had gone, I came out of the building and called other members to come and see what happened.â€
Pastor Gabriel Ekundayo, deputy commander of the group also described the gunmen as hired assassins.
“What happened is a clear case of assassination. From what we saw at the scene of the incident, it shows that the men were assassinated and we want the government and the police to investigate it and bring those behind it to book,†Ekundayo stated.
When P.M.NEWS visited Denton Police Station, Mr. Mohammed Sanni, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, confirmed the story but refused to comment further. He referred our reporter to the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mbah, for more details.
At the late Fakoya’s house on 28, Osholake Street, Ebute-Metta, his wives, Adenike and Oluwabunmi, with their ten children were seen wearing mournful looks.
The two wives called on the government to bring the killers of their husband to book. They also called on the government to come to their assistance by taking care of their welfare.
Deji Fakoya, 21, the first child of the late commander, described his father as an easy going man who loved everybody.
Deji, a job applicant, also appealed to the Lagos State government to assist his family.
A resident of the area called on the government to demolish the shanties at the Ebute area of the community to forestall a future occurence.
P.M.NEWS also gathered that the corpse of the men have been deposited at the Isolo General Hospital mortuary.
—Paul Sanusi
