Kayode Fasua in Abeokuta
The Ogun State Police Command yesterday dismissed rumours making the rounds that the death of the Ibara Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Segun Dada, in Abeokuta occurred as a result of a dangerous charm used against him by a masquerade he arrested and publicly disgraced.
The police in Abeokuta had last Sunday arrested a community masquerade in the Ibara area for disobeying the stay-at-home order occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic.
Initial reports indicated that the late DPO, a superintendent of police, had led other police officers to arrest the masquerade and its followers, and that the masquerade was also unveiled publicly, an action considered a taboo in Yoruba land.
But denying the allegation, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, a deputy superintendent of police, said the information was mischievous and untrue.
He said: “The command wouldn’t have joined issue with those circulating the fake news, but the wrong and mischievous impression needs to be clarified.
“The late DPO had been on sick bed for the past one month battling an ailment which later resulted in his untimely death.
“Contrary to what the mischief maker wanted the public to believe, the late Dada was not on duty when the said masquerade was arrested because he was in the hospital.
“The masquerade was arrested on March 29, 2020, for violating the government directives while the DPO was on a sick bed at Federal Medical Centre in Idi Aba, Abeokuta, and until he died, he was not even aware of the said masquerade arrest.
“It is a mischievous information circulating on social media attributing the untimely death of one of the finest, humble and dedicated officers of the command to the recent arrest of a recalcitrant masquerade who violated the social distancing directives of the federal and state government.”
