By Albert Akpor
LAGOS – BLOOD flowed freely Tuesday in Badagry, Lagos after a group of heavily armed soldiers from the 242 Recce Battalion, Iberepo Badagry took over strategic locations in the ancient town maiming and killing any police man on sight in an apparent reprisal of the killing Monday, of one of their colleagues.
The Divisional Police Officer, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Saliu Samson, his Divisional Crime Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DPS) Samuel who were out in the ensuing fracas to appeal for calm were shot dead.
Two police patrol vehicles belonging to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) were set ablaze while their occupants were chased and shot dead. As at 2.30 pm yesterday, corpses of police officers littered the Iberepo roundabout while the rampaging soldiers were spotted with every imaginable dangerous weapons scouting for police men.
Sources said some police men and their families who lived in the Iberepo barracks were chased out and seriously wounded.
According to sources, a soldier in mufti who was escorting goods from the Nigeria\Seme border was accosted by a police officer attached to RRS and Monday and demanded to search the vehicle.
It was learnt that the late unidentified soldier had challenged the policeman and threatened to disarmed him if he does not allow the vehicle free way; prompting the trigger happy policeman to fire at him at close range.
The soldier reportedly slumped and died on the spot. Vanguard was told that the news of the killing of the soldier soon filtered into the Iberepo barracks and some soldiers mobilized as early as 9,00am yesterday and started attacking any policeman on sight contrary to a non violence order given to them by the commander of the barracks, Colonel Nabasa.
Contacted, the Force public relation officer, DCP Olusola Amore said he was yet to get details of the clash saying, “Let me talk to the CP Lagos then I will be in a better position to react to the matter. But his counterpart in the army, Lieutenant Colonel Kayode Ogunsanya of the 81 Division said the situation had been brought under control stressing that it will be throughly investigated. “The situation is under control and I can assure you that the cause of the clash will be thoroughly investigated,” he assured.
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