Right Groups Seek Justice For Late Salami, Lament Neglect, Delay By LASG, Police In Finding His Murderers

By Akinwale Kasali

A Coalition of Civil Society Groups under the aegis of Centre for Human and Socio-economic Rights, CHSR, has lamented the neglect and continued delay in unraveling those who gruesomely murdered Sheriff Ishola Salami at Moba Town, Ajiran, in Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The late Salami who was the Youth Leader in Ojomu Community in Ajiran, Lagos, was killed on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, by unknown assailants. This  prompted a coalition of Civil Society Groups namely: Frontline Socio-economic Research Centre, FSERC, Campaign Against Impunity, CIA, Centre for the Physically Challenged and Peoples Rights, CPCPR, Community Women Initiative, CWI, and Workbond Initiative Network, WIN, to embark on advocacy and submission of several petitions to draw the attention of the Lagos State Government led by Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo Olu and Security Agencies to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to book.

The Coalition has  lamented that the Police in Ogombo, Eti-Osa, Lekki and Area ‘J’ Police Command of Lagos State have failed to thoroughly investigate the murder of Salami.

At a Press Briefing Thursday, the Coalition, in a Statement signed by Comrade Alex Omotehinse, Shina Loremikan and other Groups in the Coalition stated that following the murder of Salami, it had made representations to the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zonal Command Headquarters, Zone II, Onikan, Lagos via a petition to draw the attention to the indifference of the police and apparent lack of commitment to investigate the incident which was duly reported at Ogombo Police Station.

The statement also stated that the Coalition had made an advocacy together with the Wife of the deceased, Mariam Ishola Salami, by submitting separate petitions to the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command and the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, through the Lagos Office of the agency, and they are yet to get a favourable response.

The Coalition stressed that they are deeply touched by the pain of the immediate family of the deceased, alleging that the Police authority in Lekki axis of the State appears to be uninterested in investigating the murder which was perpetrated in broad day light.

“The immediate family members of the deceased are worried and frustrated by the delay that is increasingly assuming a deliberate ploy to shield the perpetrators of the heinous crime from justice.

“The deceased who is the breadwinner of the family left behind his critically ill aged mother (who unfortunately died in her inconsolable state in the last week of October, 2023), his wife Mrs. Mariam Ishola Salami and three young daughters, Sinata (5years), Ayisha (4 years), and Arafat (2 years).

“We are now convinced that 8 months after the cold-blooded murder of Mr. Sheriff Ishola Salami, the police authority in Lagos State has failed in its statutory duty of investigation in spite of the fact that the incident was duly reported at the Ogombo Police Station, Lekki.

It is indeed sad that the family members of the deceased have, in the last 8 months, been left to mourn their beloved son, husband and father without any glimmer of hope of getting justice.

“We are therefore by the submissions of these petitions requesting that the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command act without further delay in activating investigation into the murder. We are also requesting that the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the National Human Rights Commission should demand urgent action leading to thorough investigation into the gruesome murder without further delay”, the Statement Reads.