Missing police officer was buried alive allegedly on the order of a traditional ruler in Lagos

Musa Sunday, the detective attached to the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command, who has been missing since last November has been found buried in a shallow grave in Ibeju Lekki.

It's been discovered that Inspector Sunday, was abducted, tortured and later buried alive while on illegal duty, guarding a land under dispute at Ibeju Lekki.  

Sunday and four of his men were alleged to have been drafted to guard the land by their Admin Officer (AO), at Ibeju Lekki without the knowledge of the Officer in Charge of SARS (OC) and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni. The father-of-four, with children aged 4,6,8 and 12, was reportedly trying to save a civilian guard from hoodlums when he was attacked and kidnapped while his men escaped.

Two men had been struggling for possession of the land. One of the men, identified simply as Prince, went to the SARS Admin Officer, who happened to be his friend, and asked for some officers to be assigned to guard the land for him and prevent his opponent from encroaching on the land. The Admin Officer (AO) then drafted Sunday and four other policemen without going through the proper channel of informing the OC SARS or the Lagos State Commissioner of Police. Sunday, the other policemen and some civilian guards drafted by Prince had been guarding the land for months when hoodlums employed by Prince's opponent stormed the land. Several people from both factions claiming possession of the land have been involved in fights for months which have led to several deaths.

In November last year, hoodlums from the other faction reportedly came with a bulldozer. Some of the thugs from the other faction attacked Prince's thugs and a fight ensued. Prince's faction was overpowered and one of his thugs was taken. Sunday went back to save the man and he was captured while other policemen working with Sunday and the man he just saved escaped. The Inspector's number became unavailable after he was abducted and his family members went to the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, demanding to know what had happened to him.

His colleagues who escaped reported that they immediately went to Mobile Police Force (Mopol) 49, Epe for help in rescuing Sunday but nothing was done. They then went to Akodo Police Station but the DPO said she couldn’t send anyone to the area because it was a volatile axis. From there they reported to SARS, Ikeja, and for five days, no action was taken to rescue Sunday. Later, policemen started looking for Sunday. They went to Bonny Camp, Victoria Island in their search for him but the soldiers said Sunday wasn’t with them. When the OC SARS went to meet Owoseni, to inform him of the missing inspector, Owoseni demanded to know the person that deployed Sunday and his men on the illegal duty.

Sunday's phone was eventually tracked through the efforts of the Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) operatives and that led them to Sunday's alleged killers. It was then discovered that Sunday had been tortured, starved for five days and when his men did not come after those days, they took him to the traditional ruler who instructed them to bury Sunday alive. At least five people, including the traditional ruler known as Baale have been arrested in connection with the murder. Investigation revealed that the attack and burial of Sunday was led by one Mr Balogun who is now on the run.It was Balogun who tied his hand before burying him.  Balogun's second in command, Arokin, has been arrested and it was him who confessed that Sunday was buried alive.

The suspects led police to where Sunday’s rifle was buried and also to the traditional ruler who denied knowledge of Sunday's murder. Baale was invited to the police command but rather than honour the invitation, he ran to Police Force Headquarters, Abuja but was told at Abuja to go back to Lagos and respond first to police invitation. Pathologists from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), who exhumed Sunday’s corpse said that it looked as if he was buried with his hands tied behind.

New Telegraph reports that Sunday's wife Halimat, 27, and her children are now suffering and she can no longer afford to pay their school fees. The widow, who is a housewife, lamented the lack of support from her husband's colleague and said that her children still look forward to seeing their father. She said the fateful day of the incident, she spoke with her late husband around 4 pm and he promised to come home the following day. When at night, his kids asked to speak with him, his number was no longer available and it's been that way till date.

“They were deployed there to maintain peace. We learnt that hoodlums were attacking a man, so my husband and his men moved to rescue the man. He told the other two policemen to go and put the man in the car so he could be safe.  The hoodlums pounced on my husband and took him away. Sensing danger as the hoodlums kept increasing in number, his men ran away. Since then, we have not heard from him.

“Three months after, police kept telling us that they were on the matter. We learnt they have arrested the Prince that hired the hoodlums, but nothing has happened since then. His children keep asking after him. His aged mother, who has high blood pressure, has not stopped asking for his whereabouts. We don’t know what else to tell her.”

She added:

“Nobody from the police cared to check on us, and now we don’t have money because we don’t have access to his ATM pin. I want my husband to come back. The children are suffering, and I can’t carry the load alone.”