POLICE in Lagos have denied that 50 of their personnel attended the burial of Lateef Raheem, the late chief security officer of All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Raheem passed on four days ago after a brief illness and was buried at his residence in Marplewood Estate, Agege at the weekend.
Following confirmation on Monday by Tinubu that the late CSO died of the novel Coronavirus disease, COVID-19, some residents called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to begin contact tracing, alleging that over 50 policemen as well as politicians and other sympathisers attended the burial.
They also appealed that the area be decontaminated in order to prevent spread of the virus.
Among those who raised concerns was public affairs analyst, Jumu’ah Abiodun who wrote an open letter to Sanwo-Olu on Tuesday drawing his attention to the need for contact tracing of all those who attended Raheem’s burial.
Noting the purification rituals usually conducted before the body of a Muslim faithful is interred, Abiodun said: “I have been informed that over 50 police officers were at his Maplewood Estate residence on Friday, April 24, 2020 till he was buried. Islamic clerics, politicians, family members, among others were all there.
“My advice for you and your team Mr. Governor, is to ensure contact tracing.”
Police spokesman Bala Elkana said it was untrue that policemen participated in the funeral, insisting that there were no much crowd as insinuated. He said what the residents might have seen were policemen who were deployed to stop sympathisers from trooping to the residence in compliance with the social distancing order.
Elkana said: “We received information that sympathisers were flooding into the area and the Commissioner of Police gave directives to Area G command to deploy cops to the roads, streets leading to the estate to turn people back. Of course, most of the people were not happy that they were not allowed to go to the burial but we had no choice but to send them back.
“It is very untrue that 50 policemen attended the burial. We did not even deploy up to 50 policemen to the area and they were not anywhere near the burial place.”