Policeman Strips Naked Over Unpaid Salary

A police constable, Leke Obaba, on Thursday evening stripped himself naked at the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, to protest over his unpaid salary.

The police officer, who said that he joined the police force in 2003, complained that he had not been given his salary since he started working with the force.

“You won’t believe that I have no access to my account since I was demobilised from the Mobile Police Force, MOPOL, 53 Akwa Ibom State. For over 11 years I have worked I was not paid any salary. I was later transferred from Kaduna Command to Lagos last year. Though when I was in Kaduna I was taken to a psychiatric hospital, I have wife and children, how do I feed them?”

When contacted, the Provost Marshal of the Command said there was nothing he could do about it.

It was also gathered that the constable had earlier been detained but later freed so that he will not disturb suspects in the cell.

A police source at the command said the constable was transferred to Lagos last year, but another police source was skeptical about the constable, saying that he has not seen him before and that he poses a danger to other officers at the command because of his unruly behaviour.

“I’m seeing this man for the first time in my life. If they eventually give him a gun, I hope he will not kill the whole people at the command,” a police officer said.

When contacted the Lagos Command Police Public Relations Officer,a Deputy Superintendent of Police Mrs.Ngozi Braide did not pick her call.

Nigerian Police Kills Driver For Driving Against Traffic.

A trader who witnessed the killing of a driver, Santos Korie, by policemen in the Mushin area of Lagos State last Thursday has said the policemen opened fire on him because he drove against traffic.

The witness, Tayo Odunlami, told PUNCH Metro that the driver, Korie, who was earlier described as a foreigner, but had now been properly identified as a Nigerian, was not the sole occupant of the vehicle.
Odunlami added that his younger brother was also present.
Narrating what occurred on the fateful day, Odunlami said, “Around 7am last Thursday, I was carrying out the weekly market sanitation at Daleko Market when I saw a silver-coloured Toyota Highlander Sports Utility Vehicle coming from Ilasamaja direction.
“On getting beneath the bridge and driving towards Mushin, he noticed that there was a roadblock due to construction and he claimed he did not know the alternative route to take so a newspaper vendor advised him to reverse and drive against traffic, make a U-turn and then ascend the Daleko Bridge.
“He drove against traffic and as he was about making a U-turn to ascend the bridge, he was accosted by the policemen.
“The policemen were talking to him, but he was smiling and did not roll down his window. The next thing I heard was four gunshots and everyone fled. The man’s car continued to move probably because he had taken his legs off the brakes. The vehicle then rammed into the side of the bridge, damaging the car.”
PUNCH Metro investigations revealed that the killer policemen were attached to the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority.
The witness told our correspondent that the policemen, however, came in without LASTMA officials in a commercial bus which had been seized from its owner and then used it to carry out an illegal operation on that particular day.
He said the surviving occupant of the vehicle had reported the matter at Area D Command.
He said, “The policemen usually work with LASTMA under the bridge and due to the ongoing construction, motorists are usually allowed to drive against traffic. The policemen wanted to extort money from people that morning. That was why they came in a commercial bus and not the LASTMA van.
“After they killed the man, they fled and some commercial motorcycle riders chased them but they shot into the air to scare people away. They then jumped on a motorcycle and fled.
“Meanwhile, the other occupant of the SUV came down and started crying for help. We then advised him to go and report the matter at Area D. The Area Commander, Omololu Bishi, arrived at the scene but by then, the man was already dead.”
It was learnt that some foreign passports were found inside the deceased’s vehicle, which made people to initially believe that he was a foreigner.
However, our correspondent who visited the scene on Saturday learnt that he was a Nigerian whose real name was Onyekachi Korie.
PUNCH Metro had reported on Friday that two policemen, Idu and Ameh, as well as a tout, Sunday Sylvester, had been arrested by the police and transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
A police source at SARS told our correspondent that the killer policemen had written confessional statements.
The source said, “The murder was a case of police extortion that went out of hand. However, there will be no cover up on the matter as we have arrested both killer policemen as well as those who have been engaging on illegal traffic duty.”
The police source told our correspondent that the suspects confessed that they usually engaged in illegal duty between 5am and 7am.
He said, “The police suspects said they usually seized commercial buses and then used it to extort money from people early in the morning before LASTMA men come for morning shifts. Sylvester also confessed that he had driven the policemen on over 10 illegal operations.
“He said after arresting traffic offenders, they would take them to a corner and negotiate a specific amount of money and then release them. He said offenders were never taken to LASTMA office because they would need to register the case and by so doing, they would not make any money.”
However, the police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, had said the killers might have been hired killers in police uniform. She, however, confirmed that arrests had been made.
Our correspondent, who visited the Area D Command on Saturday, saw the deceased’s vehicle with registration number, EH 778 FST on the premises.

Source: The Punch

Police, Soldiers Clash In Ibadan.

People scampered for safety at Mokola area of Ibadan on Thursday as police officers shot sporadically after some soldiers stormed their station in the afternoon.

The soldiers, who came on motorcycles, reportedly beat and manhandled the police officers they met at the station in order to avenge an alleged brutality inflicted on one of their colleagues on Wednesday by policemen.

The affected soldier was said to be a victim of a 'stop and search' operation usually embarked upon by officers of the police station every night in front of their Mokola office.

The soldier was reportedly shot on the ankle for refusing to heed the order of a police officer who stopped his vehicle.

The development infuriated his colleagues, who stormed the station and manhandled policemen on duty, beating them with belts for few minutes before they left for their barracks.

Officers at the station called for re-enforcement, which did not arrive until the soldiers left.

As at late afternoon, the mobilised policemen had taken over some strategic areas close to the station, shooting sporadically and causing traffic gridlock.

Police sources said a soldier was later arrested and was taken to the police headquarters in handcuffs.

The Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Ilobanafor, confirmed the incident.

She said the soldier that was arrested has been handed over to Army authorities.