Family challenges police account after Taofeek Azeez dies in Osun custody

The family of Taofeek Azeez, a 40-year-old man who died in police custody in Osun State, has asked for an investigation and challenged the police account that he took his own life.

Azeez died at a police outpost in Agbeye, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, after community members handed him over on an allegation of stealing cocoa seeds. Police said he had been questioned and detained before an officer later found him dead.

His brother, Fatai Alimi, called on the Osun Commissioner of Police and the state government to establish what happened. He alleged that Azeez had been beaten and stripped before being taken from the palace of the Alagbeye of Agbeye to the police.

“It was surprising to hear that he had killed himself inside the cell; his death looks suspicious,” Alimi said.

Punch reported seeing a video showing Azeez being subjected to corporal punishment and paraded half-naked on the way to the palace. Alimi said the family also questioned how clothing was reportedly used in the cell after his clothes had been torn.

Osun police spokesperson Abiodun Ojelabi confirmed the death but said the police’s preliminary findings indicated suicide. He said the community had taken Azeez to the monarch, who directed that he be handed over to the police.

The reports give different chronology within the arrest accounts: their narratives place the vigilantes’ arrest on Wednesday, while Alimi said his brother left for the farm on Tuesday and the family heard of his detention later that day.

Alimi said Azeez left behind six children, three wives and an aged mother. Ojelabi said the family had been contacted and that the officer responsible for the cell would be questioned as part of the investigation.

Sources: Punch, Daily Post