A former police corporal accused of killing a nursing mother over a ₦2,000 bribe has disappeared after securing bail, leaving the victim’s grieving husband frustrated and searching for justice.
A PUNCH Metro investigation revealed that dismissed officer Aremu Musiliu, who allegedly shot and killed Comfort Udoh in 2015, was granted bail by the Lagos High Court in 2017 without the knowledge of her family. Since then, he has been nowhere to be found, despite multiple court sittings and efforts to track him down.
The Shooting That Shattered a Family
Musiliu and five other policemen were on duty at a checkpoint in the Isheri area of Lagos on the night of the incident. They flagged down a tricycle driven by Comfort’s husband, Godwin Udoh. Inside the vehicle were Comfort and her four children, including a four-month-old baby.
Despite Udoh explaining that they were not commercial passengers but a family returning from a church program, Musiliu allegedly demanded a ₦2,000 bribe. When one of the officers told them to go, Musiliu reportedly aimed his gun at the tricycle and pulled the trigger.
A bullet struck Comfort in the head, killing her instantly. Other bullets hit Udoh in the jaw and shoulder. Their terrified children screamed as the officers fled the scene.
Udoh survived, but his life has never been the same.
Policeman Granted Bail, Then Vanishes
Following the shooting, Musiliu was dismissed from the Nigeria Police Force on September 17, 2015 and was supposed to face trial. However, in 2017, he was secretly granted bail by Justice O.A. Taiwo of the Ikeja High Court.
Court documents show that Musiliu was granted bail at ₦1 million with two sureties. Justice Taiwo ruled that “Section 115(1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2011 empowers the court to grant bail to a defendant charged with an offence punishable by death.”
However, since his release, Musiliu has not appeared in court, and his whereabouts remain unknown. Even efforts to arrest his sureties have yielded no results.
Udoh, who had been attending court hearings hoping for justice, only discovered later that Musiliu had been released.
“I was surprised when I didn’t see him in court. Nobody expected he would be granted bail,” Udoh told PUNCH Metro.
“Every time they asked the prison to present him in court, they would give excuses like a lack of fuel to transport him. That’s how I started investigating what was going on,” he explained.
Udoh’s findings shocked him.
“The court handling the case is now at the TBS High Court, but they never brought him there for arraignment. The only time he was ever arraigned was at the Ebute Metta Magistrate Court in 2015 when the incident happened,” he said.
Even when Justice Akintoye, who took over the case, wrote letters to all the prisons in Lagos demanding Musiliu be produced in court, the police failed to comply. Eventually, Udoh confirmed that the dismissed policeman had been granted bail by the Ikeja court and had since vanished.
“We have never heard anything about him,” Udoh lamented.
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A Family Abandoned by the Police
Since the tragic incident, Udoh has struggled to care for his children while dealing with the pain of his injuries. The bullet wounds he sustained left lasting damage.
He said, “The pain from this injury is still unbearable. There’s still an iron in my jaw that was supposed to be removed. The doctor said they needed to replace it with bone so I could chew properly. But as I speak to you, the iron keeps hurting me. Sometimes, I even have to drain boils from it.”
Udoh recalled how the police failed to support him when he was struggling to bury his wife in 2016.
“I met with the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, but he told me the police don’t bury anyone and that I should handle it myself,” he said.
The family was also promised financial aid, medical care, and scholarships for the children, but none of these promises were kept.
“They said they would put me on their payroll so I could at least receive some financial support yearly. None of that has happened,” Udoh said.
Even a scholarship certificate issued for his children was later recalled.
“They asked me to return it, saying it was a mistake. They promised to correct it and send it back to the Inspector General for approval. Till today, I haven’t received it,” he revealed.
Wider Concerns About Police Brutality
Udoh’s story is just one among many cases of police brutality in Nigeria. Despite efforts to reform the police, officers continue to commit violent crimes against civilians.
In 2023, Inspector Usman Dikko was dismissed over the killing of the Baale of Lotu, Chief Fatai Jubril. Another officer was fired for raping a teenage girl at gunpoint inside a police station in Lagos.
With Musiliu still on the run and Udoh left to fend for himself and his children, the case remains a painful reminder of the challenges of seeking justice in Nigeria.
Udoh’s next court hearing is set for April 9, but he remains uncertain whether justice will ever be served.
He said, “I just want justice for my wife and my family. I don’t want my children to grow up knowing that the man who killed their mother simply disappeared, and nothing was done about it.”