Two police officers of the Lagos State Task Force led a group of civilians on Wednesday to confront motorcyclists operating in the Aswani area of Lagos, but the bikers turned and killed one of the civilians on the road.
A disturbing video of the culprits crushing the victim with motorcycles circulated on social media on Friday and Saturday.
Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, told FIJ that the police officers were in custody but they didn’t have the culpable civilians involved yet.
READ ALSO: ‘Bottled-Up Anger’: Why Okada Riders Attacked Lagos Police Station
“It happened in Aswani. We are searching for the civilians who were involved, but I can’t tell you a figure for now,” Hundeyin said on Saturday.
“The police officers were off duty and they were not assigned to any duty on that day or at that time. They went out on their own without authorisation from the office.”
When FIJ asked about motorcycles in the Aswani area, Hundeyin said that they were not meant to operate there.
“No. What they [the rogue officers] were doing was right. There is an existing [commercial motorcycle] ban on that road, and that was what they went to enforce without authorisation,” Hundeyin said.
FIJ checked and found that okada activities had been banned in Aswani, which is under the Isola Local Development Council in the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area of the state.
Meanwhile, a deadly clash involving the police and some motorcyclists occurred around the Ipaja area of Lagos in May. The police divisional headquarters along Ayobo Road in Ipaja was almost overrun by motorcyclists, some of whom pelted stones at the station.
FIJ learned that the clash broke out in Baruwa Inside, a popular neighbourhood in the area, after a motorcycle was seized by police officers and they demanded some money for its release. FIJ also learned that most of the okada riders had been frustrated for some time because of police high-handedness and extortion, even though the community was not meant to be affected by the ban on okada in some parts of Lagos.
A rider and 300 motorcycles were lost in that conflict.
FIJ asked for the names of the police officers in question, but Hundeyin did not give them.
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