By Eric Elezuo

The Lagos State Police Command has denied shooting any soldier during the August 3, 2022 altercation between members of the Police force and army privates at the Trade Fair area of the state.

In a statement signed by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, the Police noted that in contradiction to a report credited the outgoing GOC 81 Division, Major General Umar Musa, which hinted that a police officer shot at a soldier on the ear, but narrowly missed his vital parts, nobody in actual fact was shot at.

The statement titled Rebuttal: No Soldier was Shot at; Soldiers Attacked Policemen Unprovoked, unfolded the fact that it had to respond as a result of the need to stand against misinformation.

Stating the fact from its own point of view, the Police revealed that about “30 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.” The Command noted in the melee that ensued while the police officers were being manhandled, another officer fired a single shot into the air, forcing the soldiers to retreat.

Read the statement in full

REBUTTAL: NO SOLDIER WAS SHOT AT; SOLDIERS ATTACKED POLICEMEN UNPROVOKED

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.’ 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.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Command 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. The Command equally looks forward to the fishing out of the soldiers behind the torture and murder of Inspector Monday Orukpe; and the return of two AK47 rifles and three magazines carted away by the soldiers, in line with the pledge made by the Nigerian Army as conveyed by Brigadier-General KN Nwoko during a condolence visit to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Abiodun Alabi, fdc.

It would be recalled that a policeman was killed when men of the Nigerian Army and officers of the Nigerian Police engaged in altercation at the Trade Fair , Ojo area of Lagos.