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Togolese official shot dead in Lagos

Posted by By CHRISTOPHER ORJI, CHRIS ANUCHA and JULIANA FRANCIS on 2005/07/15 | Views: 584 |

Togolese official shot dead in Lagos


A Togolese government official on a visit to Nigeria had a fatal end Wednesday night when suspected armed robbers attacked his car and shot him dead in Lagos.

A Togolese government official on a visit to Nigeria had a fatal end Wednesday night when suspected armed robbers attacked his car and shot him dead in Lagos.

The Togolese, identified as Tometi Ekoye Eric, was killed at the Agboju area of Lagos on the Mile 2-Badagry Expressway. He was billed to attend a ports management conference in Lagos yesterday.

Eric, in company of two others, in a Peugeot 406 car with registration number RTG 10463 and driven by one Sodjohonu Yandian, arrived Nigeria through the Seme border and ran into a traffic jam at Agboju at about 11.30p.m. While in the traffic jam, they were attacked by four armed men.

Eye witnesses said the robbers accosted Eric and other occupants of the car and robbed them of cash, phone sets and other belongings. Not satisfied, the robbers were said to have demanded money but the visitors did not offer any. Angered, the robbers shot Eric in the chest and escaped into a nearby swamp.

Daily Sun gathered that the shot victim was immediately rushed to the Military Hospital, Yaba where doctors confirmed him dead. He was thereafter taken to Apapa police station, which referred the visitors to the Agboju Police Station at about 1a.m.

A senior police officer at the Area E Command, FESTAC, who confirmed the incident, added that the deceased's corpse had been deposited at the mortuary for autopsy, adding that the Togolese Embassy had been notified.
According to the police officer, who declined to be named, preliminary investigation showed that the deceased was a government official on a visit to Nigeria for a conference.
'We have discovered in the course of our investigation that he was to attend a meeting slated for July 14. Documents, including the paper he was to present at the meeting, were shown to us by his aides."
The police officer did not, however, disclose the venue of the meeting and the Nigerian government agency involved.

The police officer said their investigation bordered on armed robbery, because the victims were dispossessed of their belongings, 'except we have cause to suspect otherwise later."
He added that the police were on the trail of the suspects who, he said, must be arrested as the INTERPOL had been contacted. 'I bet you, we will soon fish out the perpetrators as there won't be a hiding place for them."

When contacted for comments, the state police spokesman, Olubode Ojajuni, confirmed that a Togolese was killed but denied that he was a government official. He said 'what happened was that a Togolese was attacked and shot dead by armed robbers, but the man was not an envoy."
Blaming the driver for not promptly reporting the incident to the nearest police station, Ojajuni said 'the hoodlums would have been arrested, but instead of reporting to the Agboju Police Station, the driver took the victim to their embassy at Apapa where he was referred back to Agboju and Military Hospital at Yaba and the victim died on the way."

Residents of the area blamed the incident on the failure to repair the bad portion of the road at Agboju, which result in traffic jams. According to the residents, the hoodlums usually capitalise on the traffic jam to rob motorists of their belongings.

They urged government to rehabilitate the road and other bad spots in Lagos where lives of motorists and commuters are endangered daily.

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