A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has been told how an officer of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) was allegedly killed by hoodlums on March 16, 2021, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The prosecution witnesses, two LASTMA officers, Adeoye Olayinka and Salam Olajide, gave vivid evidence in the ongoing trial of five drivers of Suzuki Mini Commercial (popularly known as korope) over the murder of Godwin Obasu.

The defendants are Babalola Femi, Ayodele Yusuf, Oyeniyi Ayomide, Ridwan Ramon, and Waris Yusuf.

The state government has charged the defendants with offenses bordering on murder, assault, and grievous bodily harm.

They are also alleged to have assaulted another officer, Adeniyi Hakeem, Salam Olajide, and others, in the Anthony area of Lagos State.

The defendants were said to have assisted a commercial ‘korope’ driver, who was their colleague, and used machetes and other dangerous weapons on the LASTMA officers, which later led to the death of Obasu.

Obasu and Hakeem were allegedly attacked with machetes and other dangerous weapons by the driver of a commercial bus with registration number FKJ 452 YC, plying Bariga to Oshodi via the Ikorodu Road axis, after they said his vehicle was apprehended for contravening the Traffic Law of the State.

The two officers attacked were on their way home, having completed their morning shift and had changed into mufti before the commercial bus drivers went berserk, attacking the officers for carrying out their statutory duties.

Obazu was said to have been struck several times with machetes, resulting in deep lacerations on the head and his eventual death, while Hakeem, who was also attacked in a similar manner, was in a coma.

However, the prosecution witnesses (Olayinka and Olajide) in their testimony before Justice Hakeem Oshodi, narrated how their colleague was allegedly killed by hoodlums.

Led in evidence by the state counsel, Mr M.C Adeoye, the witness, Olayinka, told the court that he was in the Anthony Area when he got a call from his colleague at the BRT command, Mr Sanni Ekundayo, who said they needed help.

He said he was eating when Ekundayo came and told him they wanted to arrest a vehicle and he was having difficulty.

According to him, “I asked some of my colleagues to go with him. By the time I finished eating, they told me that they had already towed the vehicle and it was inside the yard.

“It was around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, we went into our changing room, changed because we had just finished our morning shift. While we were there, we heard a loud knock on the door.

“Our colleague told us that hoodlums were outside, that we should not go out. So we were like why? Thereafter, myself, Orokoto Sunday, and another colleague went out. When we saw the crowd we decided to go back inside and wait for the backup we called for.

“It was about 15 minutes after, I heard a gunshot and that gave me confidence that our backup had arrived. So we rushed outside and we saw the late Obasu in a pool of his blood.

“We rushed him to our clinic in Oshodi and later to the Bagada General Hospital but the case could not be handled that night. Two days later he died.

When he was cross-examined by the defendant’s counsel, the witness told the court that the deceased was at the Anthony Taxi park before the incident.

He said that he did not see the person who shot the deceased (Obasu). He said it was after he heard a gunshot and came out that he saw the deceased in his pool of blood.

Also, the second witness, Olajide, recounted that March 16, 2021, was a sad day.

He said he was one of the officers who was attacked by the hoodlums who wielded different weapons, such as knives, bottles, cutlasses, and other weapons he couldn’t identify.

Olajide said immediately the hoodlums started the attack, every other officer ran for their lives. “I ran into a shop with some of my colleagues. The backup we called arrived 15 minutes later and they were able to apprehend most of the miscreants.

“On this same sad day, I was charging my phone somewhere and it was stolen, and the sum of N59,000 was removed from my bank accounts before I was able to block the phone the next day.

“The sum of N12,000 was removed from my First Bank account and the sum of N47,000 was removed from my Zenith Bank account.”

When he was cross-examined, the witness told the court that he ran away when he saw the crowd.

Justice Oshodi subsequently adjourned further hearing to September 30, 2024.