THE crisis between some soldiers and policemen in Badagry, Lagos, deepened yesterday, following the killing of a soldier allegedly by four policemen on Sunday night at a check point.
In a reprisal attack, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Badagry Division, Mr. Saliu Samuel, and his Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), were shot dead in front of the 424 Army Barracks, close to the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON).
They were on their way to the barracks for a peace meeting when they were ambushed.
The DPO, a Superintendent of Police (SP), was shot several times and he died instantly. The DCO was also shot and stabbed.
Their corpses were still at the entrance to the barracks as at 4 p.m. yesterday, because policemen were afraid of going to pick them.
Some policemen, who on Monday were kidnapped by the rampaging soldiers, were still inside the barracks yesterday.
A senior police officer, who spoke with the Nigerian Compass on condition of anonymity, said: “The DPO and his DCO were killed just at the gate of the army barracks as they were going for the peace meeting.-. These policemen are being held hostage in the barracks. You can best imagine their fate.”
The killing of the policemen was said to have happened about 11:30 a.m. yesterday, just about the time the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Hafiz Ringim, and Police Affairs Minister, Mr. Humphrey Enemakwu Abah, were taking their seats at the police headquarters, 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, said Ringim.
But the equipment might 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.
A source said before Samuel and the DCO embarked on the journey of no return, somebody called the DPO, purporting to be the commander of the barracks.
The person asked him to come over to the barracks for a peace talk. But just as they were getting close to the gate, they were ambushed.
Another source said that some unknown persons, believed to be soldiers, hacked into the police Walkie-Talkie, pretending to be distressed policemen, claiming that three policemen had been killed by soldiers along the road where the 424 Barracks was situated.
The crisis started on Sunday evening, when some policemen on ‘Stop and Search’ duty on the highway challenged the slain soldier who was said to have smuggled bags of rice from Benin Republic on his motorcycle.
A source alleged that the policemen demanded money from him who refused.
There was heated exchange of words and he was beaten up. He later called his colleagues at the 424 Barracks for reinforcement.
When the policemen realised this, they tried to escape, but he held one of them. He was shot in the process and he later died.
The killing infuriated his colleagues who took to the streets on Monday.
It was gathered that their commandant tried to stop them, but they refused.
The crisis snowballed into the killing of the DPO and DCO yesterday. 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, Mr. Suleiman Fakai, and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of Operations, Mr. Lateef Junaid, left for Badagry.
Efforts to get the police commissioner, Yakubu Alkali, proved abortive as he was said to be with President Goodluck Jonathan who was in Lagos to meet some businessmen and youths.
He returned to Abuja last night.
May252011