The dust raised by the killings at Idera Market in Oko-Oba area of Agege, Lagos State is yet to settle. Rather, it has spiralled into a dusk that has trailed police intervention, arrest and release of suspects held for their complicity in the murder of people right inside the local market known for agro-allied products and commodities.

In an expose titled ‘Inside the killing field called Idera Market’’, published on August 15, 2026, The Nation reported that a gang led by Habeeb Abela turned the market into a killing field, carrying out murders, including the killing of 32-year-old Azeez Lawal on August 4, amid the helplessness of security agents and the silent, reclining market leadership.

In the second part of the investigation titled ‘Idera: Jobless boys rescued from street life turned Lagos market into killing field’, published on August 22, the police claimed they stopped further investigation into the case following a court affidavit deposed to by the bereaved family of the victim (Azeez Lawal).

“Three suspects were initially arrested in connection with the incident. However, the investigation has been halted following a written request and sworn affidavit by the father of the deceased, stating that he has no interest in pursuing the matter and alleging that the deceased was an (sic) habitual thief,’’ police spokesperson, Ms. Abimbola Adebisi, said in a statement sent to our reporter.

Azeez’s family has, however, refuted the claim that it deposed to an affidavit in court asking the police to stop investigation into the case.

“Police lied,” said brokenhearted mother of Azeez, Ms. Abidat Balogun, when she was contacted by our reporter on Tuesday. “Azeez’s father, Sharafa Lawal, who raped me and got me pregnant as a teenager when I was barely 15, had bolted without a trace as soon as I was delivered of the boy at a maternity home in 1994.“As I speak, he is nowhere to be found. My father was also not around when Azeez was killed and buried. So, who deposed to an affidavit claiming to be Azeez’s father or my father? Abidat queried.

The 47-year-old woman also dismissed the police claim that the fictitious deponent in the strange affidavit said Azeez was a habitual thief. “I think that claim in the strange affidavit about Azeez being a thief was a desperate attempt by the godfathers of the hoodlums who terminated my son’s life to cover up and circumvent justice in conjunction with the police.

“Azeez never stole from anyone. He was innocent till he died.

“No member of my family swore to any affidavit. My father was not around when the incident happened. Hence he could not have sworn to an affidavit to stall police investigation.

“He went to our hometown in the Epe area of Lagos State, and he did not return until one week after Azeez was killed and buried. My father was not involved in Azeez’s burial at all. He only instructed my siblings to handle the burial according to Islamic rites.

“However, based on my father’s instructions, my elder brother, Comrade Hameed Balogun, and my younger brother, Kolawole Balogun who was initially arrested and later freed for fighting off one of the members of the gang responsible for Azeez’s death spotted at his burial, interacted with the police.

“The Abattoir Police Division only asked my family to write a letter requesting a police report for burial instead of being dumped in a mortuary. The family felt that Azeez died a Muslim and should be given an immediate burial in line with Muslim burial rites.

“It was my younger brother, Kolawole Balogun, who was mandated to write a letter to that effect, but he never swore to an affidavit.

“Azeez was later buried at a public cemetery in the Jafojo area of Agege,’’ she added.

Purported affidavit a lie from pit of hell, say Abidat’s siblings

The shocking revelation about an affidavit has also left a disturbing trauma on Abidat’s elder brother, Hameed Balogun, a human rights activist based in Lagos. Echoing his sister’s position, Hameed denied the existence of any affidavit submitted to the Abattoir Police Division asking for cessation of investigation into the case and release of the suspects.

Hameed said: “Please, ask the police to show you a copy of the purported affidavit they claimed our family submitted to terminate the case or prevent further investigation.

“I got several calls from the Abattoir Police Division asking for my presence, but I could not go there.

“Instead, I asked my younger brother, Kolawole Balogun, to interact with the police station after the police told us that they would deposit Azeez’s body in a mortuary.

“We protested that he has to be buried in accordance with Islamic injunction that dictates immediate interment for a deceased Muslim.

“The clear position of the family was that we should withdraw from pressing charges on our own and allow the police do their job without further delaying Azeez’s burial.

“Whoever says there is an affidavit deposed by Azeez’s father or my father or any member of our family in existence is a liar.

“First, we have not seen Azeez’s father since birth. His father used to work in my father’s motor building workshop near Idera Market.

“He got my sister (Abidat) pregnant when she was a teenager and he fled shortly after Azeez was born in September 1994, and his whereabouts remain unknown to date.

“As we speak, if he is alive, he is not even aware that his son has been killed.

“Also, my father could not have submitted any court affidavit to the police asking for termination of the case; let alone describe Azeez as a habitual thief. To score what point?

“We did not ask the police or state government not to further investigate and prosecute suspects arrested in connection with the murder of Azeez.

“It was when the police said they were taking Azeez’s body to the mortuary that we objected and we were asked to write a letter demanding the release of his body and a police report necessary for his burial at a public cemetery.

“My father, who is Azeez’s grandfather, only asked me to seek the release of his (Azeez’s) body and to stay away from any litigation process that could delay Azeez’s burial.

“I even promised the police that I would make myself available for any subpoena or as a prosecution witness to say whatever I know about the incident if called upon in court whenever the suspects are arraigned.

“We made it clear that we were not pressing charges but that the police should go ahead with their statutory job by prosecuting the suspected killers. Hence, it is spurious and disturbing to hear that police turned around to claim that we asked for stoppage of the case and that the suspects should be freed, when we don’t even have the right to intervene in a homicide case of this magnitude.’’

Also denying the existence of the affidavit, Kolawole Balogun, on Wednesday, explained that the letter he wrote was after the issuance of police report and Azeez’s burial at a public cemetery.

“It was Azeez’s younger brother, Ibrahim, who reported the case to the Abattoir Police Division. Neither Azeez’s father whom we have not seen since his birth nor my father (Azeez’s grandfather) visited the police station or submitted an affidavit there.

“I was the person mandated to write a letter and submit it to Abattoir Police Division shortly after Azeez was buried.

“I did not present or submit any affidavit to the police, let alone mention that he (Azeez) was a habitual thief in his lifetime. May anyone who painted him as a thief be eternally damned.’’

He added: “If you ask the police to show you (the reporter) a copy of the purported affidavit they relied on to stop the investigation and release the suspects, they cannot.’’

What family’s letter to police says

Meanwhile, our reporter has exclusively obtained a copy of the letter the family wrote to the Abattoir Police Division. The said letter was written on behalf of the family on August 6 and signed by Kolawole Balogun.

In the letter, the family hailed the police for releasing the remains of Azeez for immediate burial in line with Islamic rites. The deceased was not described as a habitual thief in the letter.

“The complaint we lodged was for the death of our brother, which the police have assisted us with, and our brother has been buried according to Islamic rites,’’ the letter stated in part.

Families, individuals not permitted by law to withdraw or stop homicide cases at police stations – lawyers

The latest development has thrown up questions about the permissibility or legality of withdrawal of homicide cases from the police by family and individuals related to people and suspects involved in murder cases.

Lawyers argued that individuals and family members of victims and suspects are not permitted by Nigerian criminal law to stop police investigation and prosecution of suspects in homicide cases.

A lawyer and human rights activist, John Adejare, noted that withdrawal of cases at the police station can only happen in civil disputes and not in criminal cases of the magnitude of homicide or murder.

‘’Family of parties involved in criminal cases such as murder cannot withdraw or stop the case in police station. Such ‘privilege’ only exists in civil disputes. Culpable homicide cannot be settled by family or police.

“The prosecutorial power resides with the State. Hence, any affidavit or letter asking the police to stop investigation of culpable homicide or murder contravenes the Criminal Act and is null and void.’’

Sharing his view on the matter, a legal practitioner, Ibrahim Moshood, said: ‘’Under Nigerian law, a murder case cannot be formally or legally withdrawn at a police station by an individual or family.

“Murder is a capital felony and an offence against the state; not a private dispute. Once a murder or culpable homicide is reported, the victim’s family or a private complainant loses the legal right to drop the charges or stop the investigation.’’

Expatiating further, Moshood said: “A murder case cannot be dropped at a police station or police division because homicide or murder is an offence against the state; not an individual or family.

“The case belongs to the state (the People of Nigeria), not the nominal complainant or the deceased’s family.

“Police officers at a station have no legal authority to close or settle a capital offence file simply because parties claim they have forgiven each other.

‘’Police are statutorily required to transfer a murder case file to the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) under the Ministry of Justice for legal advice (Advice/Director of Public Prosecutions).

“Families sometimes write letters of loss of interest or sign unofficial settlement papers at police stations. Legally, these documents do not stop the police or the State from prosecuting the suspect if evidence of murder exists.

“Only the Attorney-General of the Federation or a State Attorney-General possesses the constitutional power to discontinue criminal proceedings once initiated, and they rarely do so for capital offences like murder without overriding public policy grounds.’’

Police mum, ask family to come depose to affidavit after The Nation inquiry

In a twist, the family told our reporter that the police called three times, asking for an affidavit to discontinue the matter.

Kolawole said: “I think the pressure from The Nation inquiry on this case has unsettled the police. I have been called three times today by the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) of the Abattoir Police Division, asking me to bring a deposed affidavit to the station for closure of the matter.

‘’The DCO told me on the phone that the police authorities were dissatisfied with the way the case was handled, citing the absence of an affidavit from our family.

“However, I figured out that the request was an attempt to cover their indiscretions on the case, and this stirs suspicion.

“I have since refused to oblige them with the request,’’ Kolawole told our reporter on Wednesday, August 26.

Reacting, Pa. Balogun restated that he was contemplating a court action against the police for falsely claiming that he submitted an affidavit to stop further investigation, leading to the release of suspects.

‘’After falsely claiming that I made an affidavit to stop the case, which the DPO relied on to set free the suspects, the police are now asking my sons to submit the same affidavit they already said was in their custody? This shows that the police deliberately halted the investigation and freed the suspects, and this is a miscarriage of justice, and I will not keep silent. I have warned my sons not to make any court affidavit because of police complicity in the case.

Despite the family of the victim’s position that it did not present or submit any affidavit asking for the stoppage of the investigation in the case and tagging Azeez as a thief, the spokesperson for the Lagos Police Command, Ms. Abimbola Adebisi, in a telephone conversation with our reporter, insisted her response was based on the information she received from the DPO of Abattoir Police Station.

“My response on this case was based on the response I received from the Divisional Police Officer (Augustina Ikeh) wherein she said that the father of the victim submitted an affidavit requesting the discontinuation of the investigation and explaining that he had warned Azeez to stop stealing many times, but he did not listen to him,’’ she said.

Curiously, the police failed to produce or provide a copy of the affidavit when our reporter requested it. However, they made available the phone number of the said ‘father’ who deposed the elusive affidavit.

Using the Truecaller App to confirm the identity of the owner of the mobile phone number, our reporter found out that the phone number belongs to Azeez’s grandfather, Pa. Moshood Balogun. This confirms that Azeez’s grandfather was the one referred to as his ‘father’, who deposed to the fake affidavit the police claimed it relied on to stop the investigation and free the suspects.

Pa. Balogun refuted the police claim about the existence of an affidavit to stop the case, urging concerned authorities to probe police complicity and handling of the case, especially the manner in which some of the suspects were freed.

“I was sick, and I needed to have some rest. Hence, I left my Oko-Oba residence for my hometown in the Epe area of Lagos State about one week before Azeez was killed.

“On the day of the incident, I was called by the Station Officer (SO) of the Abattoir Police Station around 3.30 am that my grandson, Azeez, had been brutally killed by Abela and his gang inside Idera Market.

“I told my two sons, Hameed and Kolawole, to handle the situation, liaise with the police, and ensure that Azeez was given a prompt burial because he was a Muslim. My family was asked to write a letter requesting the return of Azeez’s body for burial, rather than it being taken to the mortuary, as is usual with the police. The letter was even submitted shortly after the boy’s interment.

“I did not return to my Oko-Oba residence until Tuesday, August 11. So, when did I make the affidavit the police cited? Which court administered the affidavit? What date was the affidavit made? The police must answer these questions and produce the affidavit they claimed I submitted.

“Also, Azeez’s father, Sharafa Lawal, a native of Ijebu-Ode, worked as a panel beater in my motor building workshop and took advantage of my daughter and impregnated her. Sharafa absconded thereafter and has not been seen since, and he could not have made any affidavit when he was not even aware that his son had died.’

“I raised Azeez and sponsored his education up to technical college, and he never stole from me or people. Yet, the police claimed that I said Azeez was a habitual thief in a non-existent affidavit.

“May the person who tagged my grandson Azeez as a thief be eternally damned and judged for lying against him and my family.

“In fact, I might consider pressing charges against the Lagos Police Command if they do not offer apologies for spreading malicious information about my family in our moment of grief.

Suspect re-arrested, detained

In the heat of The Nation inquiry on their complicity in the case, the police have re-arrested one of the suspects, Isu, who was earlier arrested and freed based on the fictitious affidavit. He has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Lagos.

“The suspect is currently in the custody of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Lagos, for further investigation,’’ Ms. Abimbola Adebisi, the police spokesperson, told our reporter.

However, the family said it had been inundated with calls from certain politicians belonging to the All Progressives Congress (APC) who have been mounting pressure to secure Isu’s release, asking for an affidavit to discontinue the case and ensure that the suspect is freed.

Hammed Balogun said: “Isu has been re-arrested, but I have been receiving calls from politicians to discontinue the case by providing an affidavit which the police needed.

“The calls have become worrisome because of the need to free suspects behind Azeez’s murder.’’ (The Nation)