The family of a university admission seeker, Temitope Johnson, who was allegedly killed by an operative of the Department of State Services in Osun State, one Bamidele, has demanded the release of his corpse.
The victim’s father, Segun, accused the state police command of keeping the family in the dark in their handling of the case.
PUNCH Metro had reported that Bamidele and his colleagues stormed the Ayope area of Owode Ede, Osun State, on October 6, and shot indiscriminately after a resident called them to intervene in an affray.
Our correspondent reported that the security operatives killed 21-year-old Temitope and arrested three of his friends, who were taken to the DSS office in Osogbo, the state capital.
The deceased’s family was reportedly chased out of the DSS office when they visited to check on him without knowing that he was dead.
His father said when all efforts to see his son proved abortive, he wrote a petition to the police against the DSS.
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He explained that upon the receipt of his petition, the police arrested Bamidele on November 26.
However, the 50-year-old father said the suspect was released the following day after the police claimed it received an ‘order from above.’
Speaking with our correspondent on Wednesday, Segun said the police authorities had refused to re-arrest the suspect, while the whereabouts of his son’s corpse had remained unknown.
He said, “The police have not done anything; we’ve not heard anything from them. We want to go and meet them to produce the suspect they released. We’ve not seen anything that the police have done; please help us beg them to do something; they are keeping us in the dark.
“A whole child just gone like that and we have not seen his corpse; anywhere the police kept the corpse, they should tell us.”
The Osun State Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, who claimed to have not been briefed on the matter when PUNCH Metro first reported the case, maintained that she had yet to be briefed.
