Actions Taken
The General Manager, Lagos State Neighborhood Safty Agency, Ifalade Oyekan, has suspended two officers for brutalising an Uber driver, Adedotun Clement, when security agents clamped down on protesters marking the one year anniversary of the #EndSARS campaign in the Lekki tollgate area of Lagos State.
Saturday PUNCH had reported that the security agents brutalised protesters and journalists after firing teargas canisters to disperse people demonstrating during the memorial car procession on Wednesday.
Clement was said to be conveying a passenger from Ajah to a destination in Ikeja when he drove into the security agents dispersing the protesters.
The 34-year-old and his passengers were said to have jumped down from the vehicle, abandoned it and scampered for safety.
Upon his return, Clement’s said his car was nowhere to be found, adding that the security agents brutalised him while searching for his vehicle.
The tense moment of assault was captured in a video clip that trended online.
Security agents, particularly the police and officers of the LSNA, were seen in the video clip slapping and pepper-spraying Clement’s eye.
Nigerians, including celebrities condemned the assault meted on the UBER driver and other brutalised victims.
Oyelade had said that the errant officers were summoned for orderly room trial.
In a follow-up reaction, the GM, while condemning the actions of the officers, said they had been suspended for unruly behaviour and acts of misconduct.
Oyekan, who disclosed this in a statement on Friday, said the behaviour of the two officers was inappropriate and unbecoming for any member of the corps.
He added, “The two officers and their supervisor have faced a disciplinary committee for assaulting a member of the public, noting that their unsanctioned conduct is capable of breaching public peace contrary to the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps handbook, particularly sections (ii), (iii), (iv) and (x), which covers the conduct with the general public.
“The committee found the two officers guilty of the charge of misconduct and they were immediately suspended from the agency while further investigations are ongoing to determine other appropriate disciplinary action against them in order to serve as a deterrent to others.”
