By Monsuru Olowoopejo

Controversy is trailing the death of a yet-to-be identified aged passer-by, who was allegedly pushed off the road into a gutter along Agege motor way, Oshodi Local Government, where he died.

While a source at Lagos State Police Command claimed that the enforcement unit of Lagos State pushed the man into the gutter, another source alleged that he was knocked in by a commercial bus driver.

Policeman brutalizes old man to death in Lagos

Vanguard gathered that the incident, which occurred last Wednesday, started to generate controversy at the police command, after a video on social media showed the lifeless body of the aged man in drainage and a police officer trying to remove the corpse.

Another source from the command claimed the officer in the video (names withheld) was attached to Lagos State Task Force on Environment and Special Offences unit.

It was alleged that the officer and his colleagues, while trying to arrest a commercial bus driver, who violated a traffic law, accidentally pushed the aged man off the road into a nearby drainage.

However, another source alleged that a commercial bus driver, who the police were trying to arrest, knocked the aged man into the drainage where he later died.

However, the Public Affairs Officer to Lagos Task Force, Mr. Taofik Adebayo, who confirmed the incident, debunked the claim that the police officer in the video was responsible for the death of the unidentified aged man.

He said officials of the task force were trying to impound a commercial vehicle on the busy road for contravening the traffic law.

Adebayo said the driver pulled over at airport bus stop and mobilised his colleagues to beat up the officers at the scene.

According to him, “in fact, they beat the officer, Sergeant, Oluwafemi Amosu, until he became unconscious. And on sighting an oncoming patrol vehicle attached to Ikeja Police Station, they took to their heels.

“In a bid to flee the scene, the commercial driver hit the aged passer-by, who fell into drainage. While the corpse has been deposited at one of the state-owned mortuary, the police officer is currently admitted at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH.”

Contrary to Adebayo’s position, an eyewitness claimed that at  11:45a.m., the bus driver pulled over at Airport Bus Stop, asking the police officers in his vehicle to alight.

The witness, who uploaded the footage on social media, claimed in an effort to arrest a commercial driver, the policeman (in the video) pushed the aged man into the drainage at the bus stop.

He narrated that he brought out his phone and started filming the police action.