Femi Ashekun/
Police have debunked reports by a section of the media that some hausa commercial motorcyclists (okada riders) were responsible for the lynching of a sound engineer in Lagos, on May 12.
The deceased, identified as David Imoh, was beaten to death and his corpse burnt by a mob, suspected to be commercial motorcyclists, close to Beer Barn, an upscale leisure facility in the Lekki area of Lagos.
Spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, described the report of the arrest of some hausa okada riders in connection with the accident as false.
Hundeyin in a tweet via his personal handle, @benhundeyin, also cautioned the public against giving ethnic colouration to crime.
According to Hundeyin, the mastermind of the incident has been found to be southerner, who neither owns nor operates a commercial motorcycle.
He wrote, “Fake news! Why give ethnic colouration to crime? Crime is crime. A criminal is a criminal. It would shock you to realize that the mastermind of the lynching is not even a motorcycle owner/rider and guess what, he’s a southerner. My point is, ‘dead’ the stereotypes.”
Imoh and a colleague, Philip Balogun, were reportedly accused of using a charm to hit a commercial motorcyclist who lost, but later regained consciousness.
While Balogun managed to escape, Imoh,a sound engineer with a live band hired by Beer Barn to provide musical entertainment for its patrons, was killed by the mob, which believed that the alleged victim of the charm had died.
A statement by the management of Beer Barn on the incident partly reads, “We requested to know what the issue was and members of the mob replied that somebody from our facility had used a charm to hit one of its members, who was presumed dead.
“While we were engaging the mob, David, who was alleged to have used the charm, came out of our facility and was forcibly taken away from our premises by the mob, which insisted he was a yahoo boy (internet fraudster) trying to use the victim for a money ritual.
“Our internal security men couldn’t stop them in spite of their best efforts.”
Following the incident, men of the Lagos Taskforce carried a raid in the area, yesterday, arresting 10 okada riders and confiscating 123 bikes plying the Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lekki Phase 1 axis, Admiralty Way and its environs.
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