FESTAC Town Boils As Okada Riders Insist On Burning Down Station & Killing All Police Officers In The Area

MICHAEL AKINOLA

This may not be the best of times for Police officers attached to FESTAC Town Division as motorcycle operators launched offensive to burn down the station and kill all the Police officers in the area in Lagos State.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that for the past three days, the Okada riders have been launching attacks on the station but have not succeeded due to the reinforcement ordered by the Commissioner of Police in the area.

So far, one Police patrol vehicle was said to have been set ablaze during the mayhem and many officers were said to have suffered various degrees of injuries and were said to be in undisclosed hospitals receiving treatment.

Most of the Police officers were said to have absconded from duty posts and gone into hiding over the onslaught on their colleagues and those who managed to come to the station did not wear uniforms and hid under cover while moving in groups over fear of their lives.

The root cause of the grievances was not clear because there were two sides to the real cause of the mayhem. 

The first is the harassment, intimidation and seizure of their members’ motorcycles, which were taken to the Task Force office and later crushed over disobedience of the traffic rules in the State while the second reason is the extortion by the Police officers, which had made their operations difficult.

According to an eye witness, the latest attack was on Tuesday morning at about 4.30am, when the group converged at the station to set it ablaze but were repelled by the officers, who have now blocked the major roads leading to the station safeguarded by armed Police officers.

This has caused serious tension in the area as movement seemed to be difficult in some areas due to the blockage of the roads and fear of being attacked by the aggrieved operators.

When P.M.EXPRESS correspondent contacted the Police Public Relation Officer over the matter, his phone rang but he did not pick his calls.

It was gathered that the Police were said to be getting tire of uncertainty over their safety and some of them are considering abandoning their duty and escape for their safety if the Police authority and Lagos State Government did not take prompt action over the ugly situation in the area.

Meanwhile, the group was said to have insisted on burning down the station and kill officers to avenge for what they had done them in the past.