Lagos State Police Command has discredited a statement made by the outgoing GOC 81 Division, Major General Umar Musa, that a police officer shot a soldier but not fatally during a recent clash between police and soldiers at the Trade Fair area of the state.
An inspector Orukpe Monday died from the torture he allegedly received from soldiers who attacked him and his colleagues on August 3.
Another inspector, Igbafe Ojo, who was reportedly tortured by the same soldiers, has been hospitalised at the military hospital in the Ojo Military Cantonment.
Explaining its own side of the story, Lagos police spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin said in a statement on Wednesday that during the fracas a police officer shot into the air and not at a soldier.
“The attention of the Lagos State Police Command has been drawn to a report credited to Major General Umar Musa, outgoing GOC 81 Division, claiming that a ‘police officer shot at the soldier during the altercation which clipped him in the ear but narrowly missed his vital parts,’” the statement said.
“In as much as the Lagos State Police Command is in a grieving mood and has decided to toe the line of civility, it is pertinent to stand against misinformation.
“The fact remains that on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, at the Trade Fair area of Lagos State, about thirty Privates of the Nigerian Army attacked five policemen for stopping vehicles along their lane to pave way for a heavy duty truck joining the expressway. After the soldiers had brutalized the ASP leading the team, taken out his magazine, and abducted two Inspectors with their rifles, the next Inspector they attempted to attack fired a single shot into the air – an act that made the soldiers retreat.
“The single shot was into the air. At no point was anyone hit. The Lagos State Police Command challenges the Army authorities to present the soldier allegedly shot. While we mourn our fallen hero, and pray for the total recovery of the second abducted Inspector, we urge Nigerians to disregard the claim that a soldier was shot as there is absolutely no truth to it.”
The Command said it eagerly awaits the report of the panel of inquiry set up by the Nigerian Army to investigate the immediate and remote cause of the incident. It also said it looks forward to the fishing out of the soldiers behind the torture and murder of Orukpe “and the return of two AK47 rifles and three magazines carted away by the soldiers.”
