Charles Atideka, a 63-year-old retired Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), is said to have killed himself during a violent land dispute in Badagry, Lagos State, that claimed three lives.
Newsmen were informed on Thursday by the police that Atideka had shot and killed two family members and one other person in the early hours of Tuesday.
The deceased were identified as Muji Onilude from the nearby Gberefu community and Richard and Latevi Atideka from the Yovoyan hamlet. The former police officer and an unidentified accomplice are accused of killing them.
The terrifying events were described by David Atideka, a relative of the dead and an attack survivor. He claimed that the murders inside the Atideka property occurred between two and three in the morning.
The police said that following the violent incident, the former cop consumed a poison, passed out, and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The event was confirmed by SP Benjamin Hundeyin, a spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command.
“The incident’s suspect is dead,” he declared. According to reports, he consumed poison after killing three individuals. Doctors verified his death when he was taken to the hospital.
The victims’ and Atideka’s bodies have been placed at the morgue for additional examination, he continued.
Son Contests Allegation of Suicide
Henry Atideka, the deceased’s son, has vehemently disagreed with the police’s suicide assertion, nevertheless. He claims that while traveling to the Badagry Police Station to be questioned, his father passed out. The police allegedly invited Atideka, the main suspect in the murders.
Henry told Vanguard that his father called him at about 8:30 a.m. to let him know he was going to the police station, and he gave a thorough explanation of what happened. However, he was notified via phone at 12:30 p.m. that his father had passed out and was being taken to the General Hospital in Badagry.
My brother, John Atideka, visited him in the hospital to see how he was doing. Our father was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), and he discovered three police officers watching over him,” Henry said.
Henry says his brother discovered later that their father had vanished from the intensive care unit, leaving the three officers nowhere to be seen.
Someone asked him, and a nurse told him their father was dead. Inquiring about the matter, he promptly called the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), who informed him that he had no information of his father’s passing.
In order to find the truth about his father’s death, Henry said he was frustrated with the current state of affairs and that the police ought to carry out a comprehensive inquiry.
“I was first refused access to my father’s body when I arrived at the hospital at approximately 4:00 p.m. I was able to see the DPO after contacting him.
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He claimed that upon seeing his lifeless body, he was informed that his death was brought on by an increase in blood pressure as a result of the charges.
He went on to say, “My father was a well-liked Badagry person. He did not murder anyone. In order for the true criminal to rest in peace, the police should track him down.
The deceased was brought in the afternoon and passed away around three hours later, according to Olatunde Bakare, the medical director of General Hospital Badagry, who verified this to Vanguard.
To ascertain the precise cause of death, the hospital has not, however, carried out any testing. Bakare said, “We don’t know if the deceased ingested something to end his life or if his death was due to an increase in blood pressure.”
