Olaleye Aluko
There was shock at the Police Training
School on Oba Akinjobi Way in the Ikeja area of Lagos on Tuesday when
policemen and shop owners found a corporal lying dead in his car.
corporal, Elias Agi, with force number 386982, who was suspected to have
died of drug overdose, was found dead around 7.30am in his blue
Volkswagen Passat car.
It was gathered that Agi, who was
attached to the Safer Highway Patrol, Lagos State Police Command, had
been one of the officers undergoing the corporal-to-sergeant promotion
course at the school.
t the promotion is divided into two parts: an examination section and an interview.
The deceased was said to have sat for
the examination and passed. However, the policeman was said to have
missed the interview with the Police Assessment Committee because
Badagry, where he lived, is far away from Ikeja where the interview
should have taken place.
It was learnt that Agi, having failed to
meet the full requirement for promotion, became sad when he discovered
that the exercise had ended for the year.
He was said to have returned to his car, reclined on the driver’s seat and ingested the drug.
When got to the
police school at about 10am, it was learnt that Agi’s corpse had been
deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital’s morgue for
an autopsy.
Our correspondent was told that the
shock of missing the assessment for his promotion might have forced the
corporal to use drugs when he returned to his car, leading to his death.
A security man, who claimed to have
witnessed the incident, said the gates were locked temporarily to
prevent people from entering to see the corporal’s corpse.
He said, “He had got to the school on
Monday afternoon, but we found him dead around 7.30am today (Tuesday).
He had just finished the promotional course to become a sergeant and
passed. He was to appear before a promotion committee for the final
assessment, but he came late for the exercise.
“Minutes later, he sat inside the car
and then took some drugs. After a few minutes, he stretched on the
driver’s seat and that was the end. We got to know when people started
gathering to look at him. We had to lock the gates to prevent more
crowds from pouring in.”
A policeman, who was simply identified
as Umar, said policemen attached to the Area ‘F’ command, Ikeja, came to
remove the corpse.
He said, “He was living in Badagry.
After the course was concluded on Monday, he came on that evening but he
did not meet the promotion assessment committee. Minutes later, he
called his wife that he was going to kill himself as his promotion was
not feasible after the lateness.
“It was the Area ‘F’ policemen who came
to convey his body to the morgue. He was not a poor policeman. He had a
house and a Jeep in the Badagry area. He must have died from depression
or shock.”
When our correspondent got to the training school commandant’s office, the secretaries said he was unavailable for comment.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, confirmed Agi’s death.
He added that the Homicide Section of
the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, was investigating
the matter to ascertain the cause of Agi’s death.
He said, “Preliminary investigation
carried out so far revealed that tablets and some poisonous substances
were found around his corpse while still inside his car.
“His body was removed from the vehicle
and taken to the LASUTH morgue. The case has been taken over by the
Homicide Section, Yaba, with a view to ascertaining the cause of his
death.”
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