Lagos State
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko, on Tuesday ordered a correspondent of
The PUNCH, Kunle Falayi, out of the premises of the police command
headquarters, Ikeja.
Manko said a story
published on Tuesday, ‘Guard shot by policemen in critical condition’ was an
attack on police integrity.
“So, you are
the one who wrote this rubbish? Were you there when the policemen shot the
security guard? You people like to write rubbish,” he said.
The CP then asked
his orderly to walk the journalist out of the premises, saying “you must not
come back until he is out of this premises.”
The journalist was
at the command headquarters to carry out his legitimate duty of reporting a
press briefing to be addressed by Manko and the parade of some alleged
criminals.
However,
journalists from different media houses were allowed to cover the event.
The Deputy
Commissioner of Police, Operations, Mr. Tunde Shobulo, had earlier asked The
PUNCH correspondent to identify himself before the event began.
PUNCH Metro had on
Monday and Tuesday reported that a banker, Femi Badejo, and a security guard,
Joshua Musa, were shot by policemen who had responded to a distress call to
foil a robbery at the victims’ house in Ikota, Lagos on Saturday.
It was reported
that when the policemen got to the house they opened fire indiscriminately on
the residents, who had gathered on the premises to bemoan their fate.
According to the
residents, the policemen arrived about one hour after the robbers had left.
Badejo was hit five
times but survived, while Musa was shot twice. Both are currently receiving
treatment in two different hospitals in the state.
The Police Public
Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, had said at the time, that the policemen met
Musa already shot on the premises, but admitted Badejo was shot because the
policemen thought he was one of the robbers.
“As the policemen
were going to the house, an occupant of the house was communicating with them
on the phone, saying the robbers were still on the premises. That is probably
why they shot at the banker when they got to the house,” she said.
But the residents
faulted her claim, saying they told the policemen many times that they were
occupants of the house.
They said Badejo
was shot after he had told the policemen that he was an occupant and a victim.
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