Family of inspector who died in police cell demand N20m compensation

The family of Kwara State Police inspector, Taiye Atobiloye, who died in a cell at the ‘D Division’ of the Kogi State Police Command following his detention, has demanded the sum of N20 million as compensation.

The officer was reportedly detained for being absent from duty for two days at the Zone 8 Command, Lokoja.

The family’s counsel, A.G. Ademola-Bank, in a release, said the police had done the “abominable by being negligent and insensitive to the medical condition of the deceased, which occasioned his untimely death.”

He said the family had identified the inspector’s corpse at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, and given their consent for an autopsy to unravel the cause of his death.

In addition to the N20m compensation, the family also demanded a thorough investigation into the cause of the death of the inspector, a public apology, immediate payments of all the deceased’s entitlement and funding of his burial.

It was earlier reported that Atobiloye, attached to the Oke Onigbin Division in Kwara State, was deployed to Kogi for special duty called Quick Intervention for a month.

However, a month after resumption, the policeman with service number 232980 went absent without leave for two days but was later found. As punishment for his absence without permission, Atobiloye was detained in a cell.

A source said the policeman languished in the cell for eight days, and consequently died in detention.

The source said; “What happened was that every month, the Zone 8 Command usually picks policemen from every division and posts them for special duty for a month in Zone 8 Command, Lokoja, and after one month, the policemen will return home.

“So, Atobiloye, who was attached to the Oke Onigbin Division, was part of the policemen posted to the Zone 8 Command, Lokoja, but when he resumed, he didn’t come for work for two days and was punished by being detained in a cell for about eight days.

“It was when policemen checked on him in the cell that they realised he had slumped and died in the cell. At the cell he was detained, only offending policemen are usually detained there, so it is likely he was alone in the cell.”

Spokesperson for the Zone 8 Command, Ruth Awi, claimed that after Atobiloye reported for special duty at the command, he absconded from duty and was nowhere to be found for two days until policemen found him drunk.