I’ve Been Stripped Naked… Mother Of Twins Killed By Drunken-Cop Cries

Seventy-five-year-old Beatrice Oyesolu, the mother of twin
brothers shot dead on Saturday by a trigger-happy policeman guarding Paulson
Hotel on Anibaba Street, Ketu-Ikosi, Lagos, says the promises her children made
to her had been shattered.

The septuagenarian said the children ─ Taiye, a naval
officer and Kehinde, an engineer ─ had concluded plans to start building her a
house next month before the tragedy struck.

The twin brothers, aged 34, who hailed from Oro, Kwara
State, were bachelors.

The drunken policeman, Stephen James, with Force number
217884, had opened fire on the brothers and their friend, Jeje, who was
celebrating his birthday on the fateful day. The trio had cautioned him to stop
harassing customers, who reportedly declined to buy him bottles of beer.

James, said to be a drug addict and notorious for shooting
sporadically, killed the twins and their friend before he shot himself dead.

It took entreaties from residents around the hotel to stop
the angry mob who wanted to set the facility on fire.

Sympathisers thronged a house in the community, where the
twins’ mother, who lived in Mile 12, was brought to. The sympathisers rallied
round her as she cried uncontrollably.

She said, “I just came back from church yesterday when they
broke the news of their death to me. The government should help me because
Taiye and Kehinde were the only hope I have. I have been stripped naked because
they are my clothes. Who will I turn to now?

“They promised me a lot of things next year. They wanted to
start building a house on my parcel of land next month. This is the seventh
month after the death of their father.”

A relative, who did not want his name in print, demanded
that the police should be made to compensate the mother of the deceased.

He said, “Why was he given a gun when they knew he was a
drunk? The police must be sued. They should also pay compensation to the
mother.”

The aunt of the deceased, Mrs. Afusat Salaudeen, said the
death was a big loss to the entire family.

She said, “They were very caring. They were the ones
sponsoring their elder brother’s son who is in a polytechnic. That brother had
been missing for 10 years now. They were easy-going persons.”

Beatrice’s sister, identified only as Iya Ijesha, said,
“They were God-fearing children. They never let their mother lack anything.”

A resident around the hotel, Segun Elphus, said the
policeman nearly killed his friends and three of his younger brothers last
month. He said he advised the supervising manager of the hotel to send James
away.

He said, “The policeman was posted here about three months
ago. He threatened to kill my friends, who visited me from England last month.
My three younger brothers intervened. He nearly shot them.

“Yesterday, he was drunk. Jeje was outside the hotel smoking
and he told him to leave. They were still on it when he shot him. Taiye tried
to approach him; he shot him. He shot Kehinde while he was fleeing.

Another resident, Dele, said the fatalities would have been
more if he was allowed to enter the hotel.

He said, “After he had killed the three guys, he wanted to
enter the hotel premises, but the gate had been locked from inside. He was
frustrated and shot himself. Sometime when he was drunk, he would say ‘I go
kill 30 people, I go kill myself…no case.’

The hotel was under lock and key as of 3pm on Sunday when
one of Punch correspondents left the area.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni,
during a visit to the scene of the crime on Sunday condemned the act of the
late officer, saying it betrayed the ethics preached by the Inspector General
of Police, Solomon Arase.

Owoseni, who also visited the family of the victims, said
investigation was ongoing to ascertain whether the late policeman who committed
the dastardly act was on authorised duty at the hotel or not.

He said, “The incident is a devastating one and it is normal
for me to visit the scene of the crime. It is also important to see the family
of the victims. The IG is aware and saddened by the development. The action of
the killer-cop negates what the IG preaches about. The IG has said policemen
should not be posted to unauthorised places. The action of the cop negates all
of that.

“As a measure to prevent occurrences like this, we have
always put up monitoring in place to check the activities of policemen anywhere
they may be serving to ensure that they conform to rules and regulation. We are
doing everything to ensure that this type of sad incident does not happen
again,” he said.

Punch