Tomori, Sodiq, and Bashir Oloto, land speculators were aided by the policemen who according to eyewitnesses fired teargas canisters indiscriminately to scare the people away.
The family of Wahab Adeniji is in great pain following the death of their 24-year-old son, Gafar Adeniji, who died of complications arising from teargas he reportedly inhaled during the demolition of structures at Otto community in the Lagos Mainland Local Government Area in Lagos State.
SaharaReporters gathered that Gafar, a serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member was teargassed to death on the 22nd of February when Tomori, Sodiq, and Bashir Oloto came with police and armed thugs to demolish four communities in the Lagos Mainland local government area.
Tomori, Sodiq, and Bashir Oloto, land speculators were aided by the policemen who according to eyewitnesses fired teargas canisters indiscriminately to scare the people away.
During the demolition, many structures were reportedly set ablaze and scores of residents were displaced.
Also, during the burning of the structures, Gafar who was having some health challenges, was inside sleeping when the policemen and land grabbers set their house on fire after police had saturated the environment with teargas canisters.
The ailing Gafar, who was alone at home recuperating, inhaled teargas and became unconscious.
The sister, Miriam, who spoke to SaharaReporters on the telephone on Monday, lamented that save for neighbours who knew her brother's health condition, he would have been burnt to ashes.
She said that unfortunately, before help could come, the condition of her brother had worsened as he was gasping for breath.
Miriam, who disclosed that the remains of his only brother had been laid to rest according to Islamic injunction said that her mother had been in serious pain for the loss of the only son.
She noted that their father had died a long time ago, wondering why security agencies should visit them with such cruelty.
Narrating the incident, she said “My brother was sleeping at home on that fateful day, when the police started firing teargas canisters. Nobody was home and before my mother who was selling goods some distance from the community could return, everywhere had already been filled with teargas.
"According to my mother by the time she entered our room, he was already choked and struggling to breathe. It was then, that she started calling for help and he was rescued. She called me and that was how she was rescued and taken to a hospital in Ikorodu.
“The doctor complained that he inhaled some substance in the room and I told him it was teargas. The doctor later referred him to Sagamu Teaching Hospital in Ogun State. We were taking him there on April 2 when he died.
“He just graduated and was serving at Ogun State. He was transferred to Lagos recently when he fell sick so that he could be taken care of. Now he was recovering at home when the police led thugs to demolish houses in the community.
“It was the teargas he inhaled that triggered his crisis and eventually killed him. He was 24 in March and the only child. He was easy-going."
She explained that they had not reported the matter to the police because they knew they wouldn't get justice, especially when policemen were involved.
"So, we have handed it over to God to avenge his death. I have left everything to God. If his father was alive, I would have had someone to lean on.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Command has kept mute over the killing of the corps member as efforts to speak with the spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, failed.
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