THE Centre for Human and Socio-Economic Rights (CHSR) has expressed concern over what it termed wanton disregard for court orders on the trial of the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of two residents of Ajiran in Eti-Osa Local Council of Lagos State.

Recall that on April 18, 2023, Mr. Sheriff Ishola Salami was ambushed and murdered in Moba, within the Eti-Osa local council area, and on August 26, 2024, Prince Kazeem Ademola Akinloye was similarly assassinated along the popular Chevron Road.

The President of CHSR, Comrade Alex Omotehinse, who raised this concern on Friday, during a press conference in Lagos, expressed worry over the reported disappearance of a prime suspect – Alhaji Ahmed Tajudeen, despite court order to remands him at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre.

He said: “We have received credible and consistent reports indicating that the suspect was not remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre as ordered by the court. Correctional authorities allegedly declined custody citing ill health. No medical documentation of the prime suspect’s ill-health was certified by the court. No formal application was made to the court for variation of its earlier order. The whereabouts of the suspect remain unknown as at this moment.

“We wish to emphasise that the extent of disregard for court order as already witnessed is evidently orchestrated with the connivance of individuals with statutory responsibility to promote the rule of law and defend the integrity of the justice system. What we are witnessing is not a minor administrative lapse but a deliberate violation of a subsisting court order.”

Omotehinse said the organisation is indeed concerned about deliberate attempts to subvert the responsibility of the police to investigate crimes. “It should be alarming that in the desperation to obstruct justice; sponsored social media advocacy by bloggers has been intensified to intimidate police authority and present crime suspects as victims.

“We therefore wish to warn that the implications of undermining police investigation and the justice system process through subterfuge and bullying by bloggers could better be imagined.”

The President called on the Inspector-General of Police to immediately investigate how sensitive police documents relating to the murder cases became tools of subjective social spin and convenient narrations in the hands of a blogger who is evidently on a mission to compromise the integrity of police investigation and the justice system.

“Re-examine the role of SCID Panti and the DCP in charge of the case, including the status of the original case file following police investigation. We further call on the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service to publicly state, without ambiguity, the exact whereabouts of Alhaji Ahmed Tajudeen; clarify why the Ikoyi Correctional Centre did not comply with a valid court order; and provide evidence of any medical claim used to justify refusal of custody.

“We are therefore deeply concerned about alleged involvement of both serving and retired senior police officers who may have connived or are still conniving in shielding the prime suspect at the expense of justice. The allegation of interference of influential individuals from official quarters appears to have emboldened coordinated social media spin and misleading narratives designed to rubbish established evidence and present suspects of crime as the victims.

“Nigerians should be wondering why the pain and agony of the dependents and families of the victims do not appeal to the conscience of a crusader of justice whose only interest is to pursue the agenda of painting the suspects as the victims,” he said.

Meanwhile, when the Lagos Police command was contacted on the issue, a source, who pleaded anonymity, said the command would not comment on the case as it is sub judice, except on the directive of the Inspector-General of Police. (The Guardian)

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