Some soldiers attached to the 242 Battalion, Iberoko along
the Lagos-Badagry Expressway have been accused of brutalizing some Vehicle
Inspection Officers in the area.
We learnt that the incident occurred on February
27, 2013 when the officers were on duty.
A senior VIO official, who spoke to our correspondent on the
condition of anonymity, said the incident occurred while his men were attempting
to arrest a bus.
He added that the driver of the bus lost control and hit two
soldiers.
He said, “On that day, around 3pm, a Mercedes Benz Bus with
registration number BB483FKJ, sighted our officers on duty and the bus driver
manoeuvred across the median and drove against traffic in a bid to escape.
“The vehicle lost control and hit a commercial motorcycle
rider as well as two soldiers and they sustained injuries.”
The source said the soldiers called their colleagues in the
barracks, who stormed the area and beat up the VIO men.
He said the soldiers seized both the VIO vehicle and the
bus.
He said, “After the accident, the soldiers’ colleagues
arrived, they beat up the VIO men.”
“Our patrol vehicle was vandalised and seized by the
soldiers who then took them (vehicles) to the barracks.
“It was later released to the Zonal Commander.”
It was learnt that the brutalised VIO men, identified as
Bajulaiye, Oyenekan and Paul, were later rushed to Badagry General Hospital by
policemen.
All efforts to contact the VIO boss, Abdulazeez Toriola,
proved abortive, but a senior officer confirmed the incident to our
correspondent and expressed disappointment that the government was doing
nothing about the assault on its officials.
He said, “The report has been sent to the Ministry of
Transportation but nothing has been done about it. I don’t see anything coming
out of it because soldiers usually get away with this sort of thing.”
When contacted on the telephone, the spokesperson for the
state police command, Ngozi Braide, said the VIO did not officially report the
incident to the police.
However, a senior police officer at Badagry Police Division
said, “It was the owner of the bus that came to report at the station that his
vehicle was seized by soldiers and that we should help get it back. The VIO did
not make any official report at this station.”
The Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa, did not
respond to a text message sent to his telephone.
The spokesperson for the Army 81 Division, Colonel Kinglsey
Umoh, said he was not aware of the incident but promised to get back to our
correspondent. He was, however, unable to do so as at press time.
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