Osun Custody Death: Family Questions Police Account, Seeks Investigation

Relatives of Taofeek Azeez have called for an investigation into his death after the 40-year-old died while being held at a police outpost in Agbeye, Odo-Otin Local Government Area of Osun State.

Azeez had been accused of stealing cocoa seeds and was apprehended by local vigilantes before being transferred into police custody. Accounts cited in the report indicate that he was first taken to the traditional ruler's palace in Agbeye and was later handed over to officers for questioning and detention.

His brother, Fatai Alimi, disputed the circumstances surrounding the death and asked the Osun State Commissioner of Police to examine the case. Alimi said the family had learned that Azeez had been taken into custody after leaving home for the farm. He also alleged that his brother was stripped and subjected to physical punishment before arriving at the police facility.

Video footage reviewed by the source showed Azeez being physically punished and taken toward the palace while partly unclothed. His family has questioned how he later came to be wearing clothes in the cell, based on the account they received about his death. These concerns are allegations raised by the family and have not been established as findings by investigators.

The Osun State Police Command has given a different account of what happened after Azeez was detained. Police spokesperson Abiodun Ojelabi said community members apprehended him over the alleged theft and took him before the town's monarch, who directed that he be transferred to the police.

According to Ojelabi, Azeez was questioned at the outpost and placed in a cell. The police said an officer later checked on him and found that he had died by suicide. Ojelabi added that the officer responsible for the cell would be questioned as part of the command's response to the incident.

The police spokesperson said the deceased man's relatives had been contacted and maintained that the command's investigation so far pointed to suicide. The family, however, remains unconvinced and wants both the police leadership and the state government to intervene in determining what happened before Azeez's death.

Alimi said his brother left behind six children, three wives and an elderly mother. No independent finding establishing the precise circumstances of Azeez's death had been announced in the source report, leaving the family's allegations and the police explanation as competing accounts requiring further investigation.