MICHAEL AKINOLA
Policemen from the Operations Department of the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos, over the weekend threw caution to the wind and forcefully evicted a nursing mother with her 7 weeks old baby from their home in the Amuwo Odofin area of the State.
P.M.EXPRESS gathered that the Policemen were reportedly acting on the instruction of a senior Customs Officer, simply identified as S.Gomos.
The family of the evicted nursing mother and their landlord, who is a Customs Officer, are said to be in court already over attempt to evict them from the apartment.
A Police source at FESTAC Police Station, who pleaded anonymity, narrated that that the matter started when the Customs officer and his tenant had a disagreement.
The Police source said, “We’ve started the case before the Customs man ran to Zone 2. He is supposed to be in jail now as his security guard, Thankgod, is already at the correctional centre”.
“Not even the intervention of our DPO could stop the officers from Zone 2 Police Command from going ahead with the forceful eviction.”
“What happened was that he gained an unauthorized access into the tenant’s apartment and a disagreement ensured between them.”
“The Customs officer made efforts to evict the tenant, whose rent had not expired and he initiated a case at the court .”
The Police source revealed that the landlord got a court judgement to take possession of the rented apartment without the tenant being aware of any proceeding at the court.
What the landlord did was that he brought a court bailiff to paste the court summon on the tenant’s apartment and instructed his security guard to remove the notice immediately the bailiff leaves.
The source also stated, “After our investigation, it was revealed that the security guard deliberately removed the summon and he was arraigned in court and is now remanded at Kirikiri Correctional Centre”.
Now, the tenant has challenged the possession order in court and the matter will be coming up on the 8th of October 2025. But the landlord hurriedly went to Zone 2 to use Policemen to evict the tenant.
It was gathered that attempt by the local Police Division in the area (FESTAC Police Station ) to explain the true situation of the whole thing to the operatives from Zone 2 fell on deaf ears, as they insisted on evicting the woman and her seven months old baby, which they eventually did.
The victim, David Afam, while lamenting about the situation said, “All the properties in the 4 rooms upstairs were removed. My baby’s room, master bedroom and my room, then the guest room with goods we are selling”.
He also lamented, “I am currently in a hotel, not even a single cloth. I was not allowed to pack a bag”.
When contacted, the image maker in charge of the Zone 2, CSP Umma Ayuba, said that she was not aware of the execution of any forceful eviction by Policemen from the zone.
The Zonal Spokesperson promised to find out and get back to our correspondent but has not done so as at the time of filing this report.