A man simply identified as Basit, who had recently returned to Nigeria from abroad for his wedding, was beaten to death by a mob following an alleged hit-and-run incident at Lagos Island, Lagos State.
Chronicle NG gathered on Sunday that the incident took place on Wednesday night.
Basit allegedly used his car to hit a man resident in the Patey neighborhood of the town.
He was claimed to have driven away from the scene instead of stopping, prompting numerous residents to pursue him.
A resident who witnessed the incident but wanted anonymity for security concerns stated, “He was coming from the other end of Freeman Street, and the incident occurred as he was getting close to the other end.”
“A resident was trying to cross the road when he rammed him. The moment it happened, people thought he would wait, but he did not. He was later chased and caught before the mob descended on him.”
Another resident, Afolabi Lawal, claimed Basit was hit with deadly weapons as the mob beat him.
Lawal further stated that Basit was left unconscious during the attack.
Afolabi said, “He was hit with sticks and bottles on his head, which caused him to sustain a head injury. He went unconscious and later died.”
However, the crowd reportedly deserted the scene when they saw Basit had fallen unresponsive.
Basit’s wedding was supposed to be two weeks away.
Abimbola Adebisi, the state police public relations officer, could not be reached for comment on Sunday since calls to her phone number were not answered. As of the time of filing this report, she had not responded to a text message.
Meanwhile, a police source confirmed that some suspects had been apprehended in connection with the incident.
“Some suspects have been taken into custody, and the remains of the deceased have been deposited in the morgue,” the source disclosed.
