by Omowumi Omotosho
Tunji Jimoh, a 35-year-old, father and poultry worker from the Erubu/Asunnara community in Ilorin South Local Government Area, reportedly died last week after being arrested over a debt dispute. In a viral video, his sister accused the police of foul play and called for justice.
“It was officers from the police headquarters in Ilorin that came to arrest my younger brother.
“They sent someone to lure him out to Ita-Balogun Fulani. He went there three days ago around 5:30 in the evening with the person who called him on the phone. Before leaving, he even asked us to cook yam for him because he was at my place that fateful day,” she said.
She explained that her brother had collected a thrift contribution of ₦350,000 that day, unaware of what awaited him. “Upon getting to Ita-Balogun, he was arrested. His relatives were not informed. At the police station, he called his mother. When she arrived and proposed that ₦220,000 from the money in his pocket be used to settle the debt, the officers declined, saying the complainant was not around until the following day,” she added.
The sister futher described how the family was repeatedly called late into the night, allegedly for his bail. “They called us from 10 p.m. till 2 a.m. that we should come bail our son,” she said.
However, the situation took a grim turn the next day. “We got another call from the police that his body had been taken to the mortuary. They claimed he hanged himself in the cell,” she stated.
Challenging the police’s narrative, she questioned the circumstances of his death. “Blood was coming from his nose and head. How did he hang himself to death?” she asked.
The family’s account has raised serious concerns about the treatment of detainees in police custody and the lack of transparency in Jimoh’s case. “We are not influential, but we have God,” she said, expressing the family’s determination to seek justice.
The Erubu-Asunnara community, where Jimoh lived, has rallied behind the family, demanding a thorough investigation into the case.
