Soldiers give IGP bad welcome to Lagos: slaughter DPO, DCO *Policemen held hostage in army barrack, CP’s whereabouts unknown

Juliana Francis

As the clash between soldiers and policemen enters day three yesterday at the Badagry area of Lagos State, angry soldiers have slaughter the Divisional Police Officer(DPO), in charge of Badagry Division and his Divisional Crime Officer(DCO) in a reprisal attack.

 The DPO, identified as a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Mr. Saliu Samuel and his DCO-name yet unknown- were said to have been on their way to the army barrack, for a peace parley with the military to restore tranquility  in the area, which had become volatile since Sunday night after a soldier was allegedly killed by some policemen. But the mission of the DPO with his deputy was never fulfilled as some soldiers allegedly lying in wait for them, opened fire on them.

Samuel was said to have died from the bullets wounds he sustained, while his DCO was said to have received several machetes cuts all over his body, before he died.

The killing of the policemen was said to have happened at about 11:30am yesterday, just about the time the Inspector General of Police(IGP), Mr. Hafiz Ringim, and Minister, Police Affairs, Mr. Humphrey Enemakwu Abah were taking their seats at the Police state Headquarters in Ikeja, to launch the Integrated Digital Security Surveillance System. The Digital Security Surveillance will help to monitor criminals involved in all sorts of crimes, especially violent crimes all over Lagos, says Ringim.

But the equipment may have come a bit too late for Samuel and his DCO, since no soldier had been arrested or even fingered as being responsible for their death. And no Integrated Digital Security Surveillance System to have seen the faces of the killers.

The brutal attack on the two senior police officers has been described as a reprisal attack for the murder of their colleague, who was shot and killed by four policemen on Stop and Search duty on Sunday night.

There are two versions to the story of why Samuel with his DCO left their Division, heading for 424 army barracks, located along Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) road for a peace meeting before they were ambushed.

The first version claimed somebody called the DPO, purporting to be the commander of the barrack. The person asked him to come over to the barrack for a peace talk. But just as the DPO and his deputy were getting close to the gate, they were ambushed.

The second version says that some unknown persons, believed to be soldiers, hacked into the police Walkie-Talkie, pretending to be distress policemen, claiming that three policemen had been killed by soldier along the road where the 424 barrack was situated. The DPO was said to have been on his way to the place to make peace when he was ambushed.

They policemen were killed at about 11:30am, and as of 4pm, their corpses were yet to be removed.

The Nigerian Compass gathered that the feud between the soldiers and policemen along the Seme/Badagry had been an ongoing one until the shooting of a soldier on Sunday night by some policemen took it to a new level.

The feud started because policemen on ‘Stop and Search’ duty on the highway always challenged and demand money from soldiers who had smuggled contraband from Benin Republic. The soldiers felt there should a spirit of esprit de corps, but the policemen had always refused to play ball.

The situation came to a head on Sunday night, when a soldier who was returning from Benin, with his motorbike loaded with smuggled bags of rice, got to the police check point and refused to settle.

 There was heated exchange of words before the soldier called his colleagues at the 424 barracks for re-enforcement. It was learned that the commander of the barrack stopped the angry soldiers before they left the barracks, but  the four policemen erroneously heard that soldiers were coming after them and started shooting sporadically into the air to scare off any person/soldier approaching. They did this when they did not sight any soldier. When the arrested soldier attempted to run, he was shot on the leg and later died.

To avenge the death of their colleagues, soldiers took to the roads on Monday, kidnapping any policeman in uniform and dragging them into their barracks.  The mayhem snowballed yesterday into the killing of Samuel and his DCO.

A senior police officer, who spoke with the Nigerian Compass on the condition of anonymity said: “The DPO and his DCO were killed just at the gate of the army barrack as they were going for the peace meeting. They were ambushed. Soldiers opened fire on them.  It is because the corpses were at the gate of the barrack, which had made policeman not to make any attempt to go and pick them. Even as we are speaking now, there are several policemen who were kidnapped. These policemen are being held hostage in the barrack. You can best imagine their fates!”

A few minutes after the launching of the Integrated Digital Security Surveillance System, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), in charge of Zone II, Onikan and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of Operations, Mr. Lateef Junaid left for Badagry.

While the command was on fire, the whereabouts of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Yakubu Alkali was unknown. Attempts made to get him proved abortive as his phone rang repeatedly, but he did not pick.

Police spokesman, Mr. Samuel Jinadu, however explained that President Good Luck Jonathan and his wife were in Lagos and Alkali was on official assignment with them.

When the Nigerian Compass tried to get the image maker’s reaction to the killings, he said he was on phone with Abuja. He later said he was about to grant an interview and would speak to the Nigerian Compass later. When the Nigerian Compass called him again, he cut off the phone.