A coalition of civil society organisations has again turned its attention to the unresolved killing of Prince Demola Akinloye, urging the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department to push its inquiry into the case to a definitive conclusion.

The prince, a son of His Royal Highness Oba Tijani Akinloye, Ojomu of Ajiranland in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, was killed in broad daylight on August 26, 2024. According to police accounts, he was driving near the Bourdillon Court Estate gate along Chevron Drive in Lekki when four armed men attacked him, shooting and stabbing him before fleeing the scene. His body was subsequently deposited at a morgue in Ajah, and the file was handed to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department at Panti, Yaba, for further investigation.

The murder sent shockwaves through the Ajiran community, coming barely a year after another prominent community figure, youth leader Sheriff Ishola Salami, was gunned down under similarly brutal circumstances in April 2023. Civil society advocates have long argued that the two killings follow a troubling pattern connected to unresolved tensions in the area, and have repeatedly called on both state and federal authorities to intervene.

At a recent joint briefing in Ogba, representatives of the Centre for Human and Socio-Economic Rights (CHSR), the Centre for Economic and Human Rights Advancement (CEHRA), and the Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA) struck a cautiously optimistic tone. The groups acknowledged that the Lagos Police Command, under Commissioner Olohundare Moshood Jimoh, has made tangible progress, noting that renewed investigative efforts had already led to arrests, with confessional statements from suspects prompting police to declare additional persons of interest wanted.

Even so, the coalition was firm that commendation should not translate into complacency. Their central message was that a diligent, thorough process must be sustained until those responsible are formally prosecuted โ€” a call rooted in concern that the case not fade into Nigeria's crowded backlog of murders never brought to justice. The organisations argued that public confidence in law enforcement hinges on cases like this reaching a transparent, verifiable outcome, rather than quietly stalling once media attention moves on.

For the Ajiran community, the stakes go beyond one family's grief. Residents have described a climate of unease following back-to-back killings of local leaders, and community voices have consistently urged authorities to treat the matter as a priority rather than a routine case file.

As the investigation continues at Panti, civil society groups say they will keep monitoring developments and pressing for updates, insisting that justice delayed in cases involving public figures sends a discouraging signal to communities already wary of impunity.