A Nigerian police officer of the Kwara State Police Command, Taiye Atobiloye has died in cell after being detained for eight days for being absent from work.
It was gathered that the deceased, with service number 232980, died in a cell at the D Division of the Kogi State Police Command, following his detention for being absent from duty for two days at the Zone 8 Command, Lokoja, Kogi State.
Taiye, who was assigned to the Oke Onigbin Division in Kwara State, was assigned for a month to a special assignment dubbed Quick Intervention at the Zone 8 Command.
The policeman was alleged to have been gone from duty for two days after his return to Lokoja, and it was subsequently discovered that as punishment for his absence without authorisation, Atobiloye was kept in a cell.
In a Facebook post, a relative of the dead officer, Femi Igbekele, lamented the circumstances that took Atobiloye’s life, saying that efforts by his family members, including his wife, to contact him on the phone after he departed for special duty proved futile.
He wrote, “AP No 232980 Inspector Taiye Atobiloye, serving at Kwara State Command, attached to the Oke Onigbin Division, was sent to Lokoja Zone 8 on special duty called Quick Intervention.
“For the past eight days, all family members were calling him but no response from his phone number as the phone was ringing but nobody picked, likewise his wife called him and nobody picked (up) the call until the information reached the family that he was detained at the D (Division) Lokoja, and died in the cell.”
When PUNCH contacted the Zone 8 Command spokesperson, Ruth Awi, she confirmed the incident. She said Atobiloye absconded from duty after reporting for special duty at the command and was unable to be located for two days until cops discovered him inebriated.
She stated that the officer was imprisoned in order for him to get himself, and that he died in detention.
She said, “He was not detained at the Zonal Headquarters, he was detained at the D Division in Lokoja. He reported at the Zonal Headquarters and then disappeared into thin air; there are punishments for people who abscond from duty without any excuse. But in his case, he did not only stay away from work, he was drunk when he was found.
“For the effect of the drink to be cleared, the boss said he should stay in the cell for two days until he is fit for interrogation to explain where he went to and where he was coming from. So, he was detained at the D Division for about two or three days after which the news came to us that he gave up.”
