By Flourish Osetohanmen
It was confusion galore on Tuesday inside the Federal High Court in Benin City, when a woman, simply identified as Titilayo, collapsed and died shortly after being arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) before the court.
Titilayo’s death has sparked outrage, with accusations of negligence leveled against the NDLEA.
The deceased had been arrested by the Edo State Task Force and subsequently handed over to the NDLEA.
She was accused of selling substances suspected to be hard drugs and had been held in custody since January this year without trial.
Some of the people present at the court when the incident happened blamed the NDLEA for Titilayo’s death, alleging that she had been in their custody for months without receiving adequate medical care.
A source alleged that Titilayo had been ill before her appearance in court. The source claimed that the NDLEA command officials had initially left her body in the courtroom following the tragic incident.
The source added that the deceased had complained of having serious headache to the NDLEA officials who allegedly paid deaf ears to her complaints until she eventually collapsed and died.
The sudden death of the female suspect has fueled public anger and calls for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Titilayo’s death and the NDLEA’s conduct.
But the Edo Commander of the NDLEA, Mitchell Ofoyeju, denied allegations of negligence on the part of his men as the cause of the death of Titilayo
According to the NDLEA Commander, “It is not true what they are saying. She was arraigned in court. There was no issue that she was not physically fit. She personally walked to the car, got to the court, and came down herself. What happened is not something you can start trading blame.
“She was arrested by the Edo State task force and transferred to the NDLEA. She was arrested for selling Loud.The crowd thought my men were running away. My men were not attacked,” he added.