At least three policemen have been brutalised and injured by some soldiers attached to the Abalti Barracks, Surulere, Lagos State, while enforcing the state’s ban on motorcycles(Okada).
According to The Punch, the degraded policemen were arresting a suspected soldier who was defiling the state’s government ban on Okada in the area.
The suspect was riding Okada around Ojuelegba to link the barracks when the policemen, who were enforcing the ban on motorcycle operations in the area, accosted him.
He was arrested and his motorcycle impounded in the company of two inspectors and a police constable.
The Surulere Police Division officers were deporting him and his motorcycle to their station when no fewer than 20 soldiers stormed the premises.
A source who spoke with The Punch on Thursday said the patrol team were attacked and the police constable and inspectors were injured by the soldiers.
“When they got there, they started attacking the policemen till they were able to set the man that was arrested free. They also dispossessed the policemen of the seized motorcycle and went away with it.
“The man that was arrested did not wear uniform, but after the attack, he and the soldiers entered the Abalti Barracks. That is why it is believed that he is also a soldier. The incident happened around 10.30 pm on Wednesday,” the source said.
Some of the soldiers were in their uniform, while others wore mufti, the source disclosed, adding that the soldiers also seized the phone of a policeman filming the attack.
“But immediately they spotted police reinforcement, the soldiers took to their heels and ran into the barracks,” the source said.
The injured policemen were taken to the Randle General Hospital for treatment.
The state Police Public Relations, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the attack, adding that the command had alerted the Army authorities to the incident.
He said, “Yes, there was an issue. Army authorities in Abalti Barracks have been duly notified and we await their action.”
The spokesperson, 81 Division, Nigerian Army, Major Olaniyi Osoba, said, “I am just hearing it, I will find out.”
Recently, 30 privates allegedly tortured a policeman, Monday Orukpa, to death, during an attack on him and his colleagues in the Trade Fair area of the state.
