Police Arrests 19 Motorcyclist Trying To Burn Down Police Station In Lagos

Nineteen persons have been reported arrested by the Lagos State Police Command following an alleged move to burn down the Ejigbo Police State on Saturday around 11.15pm.

A resident of the area identified as Tunde while speaking with Punch claimed that he was outside his house when he noticed that some commercial motorcyclists armed with dangerous weapons ride towards the police station.

He stated that the attack was as a result of the police vehicle allegedly knocking down two of their colleagues.

According to Tunde, a few minutes after the motorcyclists decided to attack the police station and threatened to set it on fire.

He further revealed that in the process the mob destroyed some police vehicles.

Tunde claimed that when the police mobilised and repelled the attack, some of the motorcyclists has sustained degrees of injuries. He said;

“I was lounging outside when I suddenly saw hundreds of youths running towards the Ejigbo Police Station. They were chanting in Hausa. I did not understand what they were saying.

“I asked one of them, who is my friend, what had happened. He told me that some policemen knocked two motorcyclists down. He said they were going to retaliate.”

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Chike Oti, condemned the attack on the police station, he added that nobody was knocked down.

According to him, the Lagos State Traffic Law prohibits the movement of motorcycles after 10 pm.

He claimed that the motorcyclists attempted to burn down the Police Station but they were stopped due to reinforcement.

Oti added that the police repelled the irate youths by firing tear gas canisters at the mob and that nobody was shot.

“The motorcyclists wilfully damaged two operational vehicles belonging to the Rapid Response Squad, Ikeja. The police did not shoot at any of them; they only fired tear gas canisters to disperse them. The police arrested 19 of them over attempts to burn down the station.”

“The police on night guard saw some people approaching and became alert, wondering what such number of people was coming to do at the station.”

“Few metres away, the mob started throwing missiles at the police station. The police resisted them from entering the compound by closing the gate. If the police had allowed them to overwhelm them, they would have burned down the station.”

“In the process, they damaged two of our patrol vehicles parked outside the station. The DPO was able to organise a security team that repelled them using tear gas to avoid killing anybody.”