A 65-year-old man Olukayode Omotosho, on Friday, narrated to the Lagos State Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters, of how SARS operatives murdered a physically-challenged man and dumped his body in a container of corpses meant for mass burial.

Omotosho, a Deputy Registrar at Yaba College, said before the victim of a stray bullet, Francis Eni Idun, was killed on July 15, 2019, he was with him till past 5p.m. the previous day, at Christ Apostolic Church, Shilon Street, Ilupeju, Lagos.

He said on July 15, 2019, he was in his office when he received a call that Idun had been killed at Agishegiri Street at Ilupeju.

“I quickly drove down to the place and met a crowd. It took me some time to get through until I saw Eni Idun lying down with blood on his shirt.

“His occupation was cleaning. Each morning he went from one house to the other, cleaning their bathrooms and toilets,” Omotosho said.

Omotosho, who was led in examination in chief by Mr M. M. Sanni, said by the time he got to the scene of crime, he heard people saying “This man has been killed by Akeem Mohammed AKA, Sokoda, a SARS operative from Ladipo Mushin Station and no one dears remove the corpse”.

He testified that he picked up a bullet shell close to the dead victim’s head and also took a photograph, adding that people on the street were screaming for Akeem Soda to come and carry the corpse.

“Not long after I got there, a lot of policemen and started using tear gas, casing a stampede. They took the corpse away and dumped it in a container in Yaba, beside the military hospital.

“When I got to the mortuary, I was told by the attendant that the corpse was not in the mortuary, that I should check the container.

“He said that those in the container are for mass burial. They said before the corpse can be removed from the container and kept in a real mortuary, we have to pay N10,500,” Omotosho stated.

Omotosho also said that it was the Investigative Police Officer that directed them to the mortuary, where the corpse was found in a container.

“There was an autopsy carried out which showed the cause of death was gunshot to the head. His aged parents in Cross River State requested that we bring him home for burial.”

The witness stated that less than an hour after the incident occurred, then Lagos Police Public Relation Officer, SP Bala Elkana, released a press statement that Francis Eni Idun was killed by hoodlums.

“I wrote a petition to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police on July 18, 2019, three days after he was killed.

“I made copies to the Lagos State governor; DPO, Ilupeju Police Station; Area Commander Area F; Commissioner of Police, Alagbon Annex.

“On August 9, an NGO sent a petition to the Commissioner of Police at Ikeja and the office of the Public Defender, on August 30, sent a petition to the police.”

During cross-examination, by the police counsel, Cyril Ejioffor, the witness said the container where the corpse was dumped was inside the hospital’s premises.

He said that they also traced the police vehicle to where it was parked outside in Mushin SARS office.

Omotosho said he doesn’t know the name of the person that paid N10,500 for the body to be moved from the container.

The brother of the victim, Sunday Eni Idun, corroborated Omotosho’s testimony.

Idun, an aluminum fabricator who resides in Delta State, said his late elder brother was the breadwinner of the family.