75yrs old Beatrice Oyesolu, the mother of twin brothers who were shot dead on Saturday by a trigger-happy policeman guarding Paulson Hotel on Anibaba Street, Ketu-Ikosi, Lagos, says the promises her children made to her had been shattered.
The septuagenarian said her now late children ─ Taiye, a naval officer and Kehinde, an engineer ─ had plans to start building her a house next month before the tragedy struck.
The twin brothers, aged 34, who hailed from Oro, Kwara State, were bachelors.
The drunken policeman, late Stephen James, had opened fire on the brothers and their friend, Jeje, who was celebrating his birthday on the fateful day. The trio had cautioned him to stop harassing customers, who reportedly declined to buy him bottles of beer.
The late James, said to be a drug addict and notorious for shooting sporadically, killed the twins and their friend before he shot himself dead.
It took entreaties from residents around the hotel to stop angry mob who wanted to set the facility on fire.
Sympathisers thronged a house in the community, where the twins’ mother, who lived in Mile 12, was taken to. The sympathisers rallied round her as she cried uncontrollably.
She said, “I just came back from church yesterday when they broke the news of their death to me. The government should help me because Taiye and Kehinde were the only hope I have. I have been stripped naked because they are my clothes. Who will I turn to now?
“They promised me a lot of things next year. They wanted to start building a house on my parcel of land next month. This is the seventh month after the death of their father.”
A relative, who did not want his name in print, demanded that the police should be made to compensate the mother of the deceased.
He said, “Why was he given a gun when they knew he was a drunk? The police must be sued. They should also pay compensation to the mother.”
The aunt of the deceased, Mrs. Afusat Salaudeen, said the death was a big loss to the entire family.
Lagos Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, during a visit to the scene on Sunday condemned the act of the late officer, saying it betrayed the ethics preached by the IG of Police, Solomon Arase.
He said, “The incident is a devastating one and it is normal for me to visit the scene of the crime. It is also important to see the family of the victims. The IG is aware and saddened by the development. The action of the killer-cop negates what the IG preaches about. The IG has said policemen should not be posted to unauthorised places. The action of the cop negates all of that.
“As a measure to prevent occurrences like this, we have always put up monitoring in place to check the activities of policemen anywhere they may be serving to ensure that they conform to rules and regulation. We are doing everything to ensure that this type of sad incident does not happen again.”
