Pix: Hospital ( CP Odumosu watching medical personnel attending to the injured photojournalist)
By Evelyn Usman
The Lagos State Police Command Thursday made do its threat to arrest any group that would stage a rally or protest during the nation’s 60th Independence anniversary, following the arrest of 30 members of the Coalition for Revolution otherwise known as #RevolutionNow.
The protesters who chanted solidarity songs lamented that 60 years after independence, the masses were still deprived of the gains of a sovereign state, blaming the cause on bad governance.
The protest march started from Ojota, to Maryland area of the state, where they were dispersed by policemen.
In the process, one of the policemen broke a man’s skull with the baton. The injured man was later identified as Olukayode Jaiyeola, a photojournalist with the Punch newspaper.
CP orders policeman’s arrest
A visibly angry Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, CP Hakeem Odumosu, was said to have ordered for the arrest of the policeman that injured the journalist.
READ ALSO: Release #RevolutionNow protesters now – SERAP
The erring policeman, Inspector Adadu Innocent, attached to the Police Mobile Force PMF 22, Ikeja, was detained at the Provost Office, Command headquarters, for an Orderly Room Trial.
The command’s spokesman, SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the arrest, said “ CP Hakeem Odumosu, who was monitoring the deployment and operational activities of officers and men of the command for the enforcement of the order against unlawful gathering and protest by some unpatriotic individuals, raced to the scene and personally moved the injured journalist to the Police Cottage(hospital) at Area F, GRA, Ikeja, where he personally waited and ensured the injured journalist was given immediate and best medical treatment. He cut-off his movements to stay throughout the journalist’s treatment and subsequent discharge.
“Preliminary findings by the CP and eye witness accounts from senior officers on ground, revealed that the cop suddenly attacked the journalist, without any previous altercation or confrontation. This propelled the Commissioner of Police to order for his trial in order to serve as a deterrent to others who are fond of engaging in unprofessional and unethical conducts”.
He added that the arrested protesters would be charged to court today.
