Published 1st Sep, 2021

By Tola Owoyele

Usman Alkali Baba, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), has come under fire over the four-hour gridlock that accompanied his visit to Radison Blu Hotel in the Ikeja area of Lagos on Wednesday.

A motorist in the area, who asked not to be named, said several passengers alighted and ran with their luggage to catch their flights while ambulances struggled to get to their destinations.

“Many people ran with their luggage so they wouldn’t miss their flights. Of course, most would surely miss theirs,” he told FIJ.

“This is not how to demonstrate power. You wasted people’s energy and prevented them from getting to their offices. Economic waste, time loss. Would the programme the IGP attended compensate them for the lost time, frustration, lost resources and, perhaps, death and missed flights?”

FIJ gathered that the access road linking the Lagos Country Club to Joel Ogunnaike and the exit road from Joel Ogunnaike to Rev. Ogunbiyi street were blocked. The access road from Cubana to Isaac John street was also blocked.

The roadblocks in Ikeja were said to have resulted in a gridlock along Mobolaji Anthony Way.

“This should not be acceptable in the modern world. It is very shameful,” he said. “The Nigeria Police and, most especially, the Inspector General of Police should tender a public apology and vow not to do such a thing again. He is a public servant; he should not punish the public.”

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