The eighth day Fidau prayer for Olatunji Bakare, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) officer killed by an irate mob in Apapa last week, will hold at his family house in Oke-Ira, Ogba on Thursday.
Qed.ng also learnt that members of his family and friends will submit a petition to the Commissioner, Lagos State Police Command, Fatai Owoseni, on Friday.
Mr Bakare, a level 14 officer, was stabbed and stoned to death by a mob which blamed men of the traffic control agency for the death a motor boy attached to a tanker.
Addressing a press briefing a day after the incident on Friday, Lagos acting Commissioner for Transportation, Anofiu Elegushi, condemned the brutal murder of the officer, saying that the development was one death too many and most unfortunate, as the victim was killed while performing his lawful duties of making Apapa safe for motorists and commuters.
Elegushi, who addressed the briefing alongside the Chief Executive Officer of LASTMA, Chris Olakpe, and General Manager of the agency, Bashir Braimoh, said the officer was killed for an incident he knew absolutely nothing about, adding that it was painful that LASTMA officials were being given raw deals either by the people they were meant to serve or security officers, and that such must stop.
Qed.ng was, however, informed that the family of the deceased has decided to petition the police over report that Bakare’s colleagues allegedly ran away and took cover without calling for backup while he was fatally attacked.
It also wants to know why the police and joint military patrol in Apapa did not get to the scene on time since eyewitness accounts show that the attack lasted for more than 30 minutes.
The family also wants the police to produce the okada riders, tanker drivers and others seen carrying out the attack in a graphic video of the murder which has gone viral online.
Speaking on behalf of the family, a lawyer and friend of the deceased, Dele Awokoya, told Qed.ng that no official delegation from LASTMA had visited the family of the deceased as at Wednesday morning.
“We will submit our petition to the Lagos police on Friday. There are many questions we want them to answer but most importantly, we do not want this matter swept under the carpet,” Mr Awokoya told this medium.
Bakare, 45, is an engineering graduate of the University of Ilorin.
Thursday’s prayer for the father of three will begin at 11am.
