Soldiers Beat EX Director To Death For Breaking Car Side Mirror In Lagos

Adewale Olupitan-Hassan, who died after being allegedly brutalised by soldiers attached to the Flag Staff House, Force Road, Lagos, has been buried.

At a prayer session held at his Opebi residence before his remains were interred at the Atan Cemetery, Lagos, on Saturday, friends, associates and family members paid tribute to the retired director of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.

The presiding Imam, Sheikh Ibrahim Iginla, described the deceased as a generous man worthy of emulation.

He said, “We can’t continue to mourn his death. We all have to take heart and lead a life pleasing unto God. The deceased was a generous man who made a positive impact during his sojourn on earth.

“Whether we like it or not, our own day of reckoning will come someday and it is our deeds that will speak for us in heaven and here on earth.”

The deceased’s younger son, Sunkanmi, wept profusely as he performed the dust to dust rites. His wife, Adedoyinsola, also wept inconsolably as she bid her husband farewell.

The deceased’s first son’s fiancée, Lamosi, whose wedding had been scheduled to hold in October 20, before the incident happened, also attended the funeral.

Meanwhile, Olupitan-Hassan’s younger brother, Adedotun, said he was still hoping that the Nigerian Army authorities would allow justice to prevail by fishing out the perpetrators.

Adedotun said, “It’s so unfortunate and painful that his life was cut short abruptly by those who were commissioned and conscripted with tax payers’ money to protect him.

“The matter has definitely dragged for too long. Friday last week, a colonel attached to the Military Police of the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Lagos, called me on the phone that the matter had been transferred from the Special Investigation Bureau of the Nigerian Army, Arakan Barracks, Apapa, Lagos, where we had reported the matter.

“I’m still optimistic that the transfer of the case would be for good. I have been invited by the army on Monday (today).”

The deceased’s friend, who identified himself simply as Alhaji Funsho, urged the army authorities to fish out the perpetrators and try them in a criminal court.

He said, “When I heard the news, I was surprised that the soldiers could brutalise an unarmed civilian. I still can’t understand such barbaric and overzealous act from a soldier that claims to be a professional. Whatever might have happened they shouldn’t have brazenly descended on him the way they did.

“The perpetrators have committed manslaughter. They should stand before the law court and explain why a defenceless man should be treated in such a manner. This will serve as a deterrent to other overzealous uniformed men.”

Olupitan-Hassan was brutalised by the soldiers who were driving in a military convoy at the Obanikoro end of Ikorodu Road on July 15 for allegedly breaking the side mirror of one of the vehicles in their convoy.

He later died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital on July 29 as a result of the injury he sustained when he was brutalised.