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A Lagos magistrate court has ordered the detention of four dismissed police officers charged in connection with the shooting deaths of seven traders at the Owode Onirin International Spare Parts Market in Kosofe last August, as the case moves toward a full prosecution that has drawn national attention to land-grabbing violence in one of Nigeria’s busiest commercial districts.
Chief Magistrate C.M.E. Kubeinje of the Ebute Metta Chief Magistrates’ Court issued the remand order on Tuesday, sending Manu Bala, 41, Jibrin Samaila, 47, Ibrahim Garuba, 29, and Ibrahim Kashimu, 26, to the Kirikiri Custodial Centre operated by the Nigerian Correctional Service. The four men face a seven-count charge covering conspiracy and murder. They will remain in custody pending a formal legal advice from the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, whose office must determine whether a prima facie case sufficient to proceed to trial exists against each defendant. The matter has been adjourned to April 25, 2026.
The killings took place on the morning of August 27, 2025. According to witness accounts and subsequent police findings, the violence erupted during a confrontation at Owode Onirin between traders occupying the market and individuals acting on behalf of a businessman seeking to forcibly evacuate shop owners and mechanics from the site. Five traders were shot dead at the scene; two others who sustained critical injuries later died in hospital, bringing the total death toll to seven. Named among the victims in court documents are Bamidele Dare Mufutau, Adebayo Adewale Mathew, Adeoye Taiye, Abraham Idowu Temilola, Akinboye Oluwaseyi Olamilekan, and Akeem Aderemi Adeoye. A seventh victim is referenced in the charge sheet but was not named in publicly available court filings.
Police prosecutor O.W. Ologun told the court that the four defendants, together with others still at large, allegedly conspired to carry out the killings and opened fire on traders using AK-47 rifles. The charges are brought under Sections 223 and 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015, which prescribe penalties for murder and conspiracy to commit a felony respectively. No plea was entered, as the proceedings were limited to obtaining the remand order pending the DPP’s formal assessment of the case.
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The background to the killings centres on a land dispute linked to Abiodun Ariori, chief executive of Prosperous Ariori Golden Venture Limited, who has since been declared wanted and remains at large. Police determined that the four dismissed officers had been brought to Lagos from Nasarawa State specifically by Ariori and were not attached to any Lagos command, making their presence at the market an unauthorised deployment outside their jurisdiction.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police Olohundare Jimoh confirmed last week that ballistic examination reports covering the rifles used by the officers had been received, completing approximately 98 percent of the investigation. Autopsy reports have also been submitted to the prosecution team, Jimoh said.
The four officers were dismissed from the Nigeria Police Force prior to their arraignment. Their dismissal was announced publicly by Jimoh at the Ikeja Police Officers’ Mess on March 5. “This matter has not been swept under the carpet, and we want the public and all the families of the victims to know that nobody can stop us from ensuring that justice is done,” Jimoh said, adding that all suspects, including those not yet in custody, would face prosecution.
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The case has also drawn in one of Nigeria’s most prominent human rights lawyers. Senior Advocate of Nigeria Femi Falana, who is representing the families of the deceased traders, said the arraignment demonstrated the Lagos command’s willingness to pursue accountability.
“The arraignment of the police officers is a pointer to the fact that the Lagos State police command is ready and willing to do justice to the memory of the victims who were murdered in cold blood,” he said in a statement. Falana said the families of the deceased were awaiting the DPP’s legal advice and expressed confidence that the court would deliver a just outcome once the full trial commenced.
The Owode Onirin killings were among the most widely reported incidents of alleged police involvement in land-grabbing violence in Lagos in recent years. Residents and traders in the aftermath of the August 27 shooting blocked major access roads in the Kosofe area, paralysing traffic for several hours in protest at what they described as state-sanctioned dispossession. The episode intensified public scrutiny of the relationship between commercial land interests and armed security personnel in Lagos, a city where disputes over land tenure have repeatedly escalated into violence.
Inspector-General of Police Ya’u Danmadami separately ordered the dissolution of tactical squads across state commands following a national commissioners’ conference held in early March, citing their uncontrolled proliferation as a source of disciplinary risk. Jimoh confirmed the directive would reduce Lagos’s tactical squad structure to three state-level units, a reform he described as part of broader efforts to prevent the kind of unlawful deployment that allegedly led to the Owode Onirin deaths.
The principal suspect, Ariori, has not been apprehended. Police have issued a public wanted notice and said his arrest remains a priority. No trial date has been set, with the case’s next procedural milestone being the DPP’s legal advice, expected before the April 25 mention date at the Ebute Metta court.
