Soldiers from the Ojo Military Cantonment killed a police officer named Inspector Monday Orube in Lagos on Wednesday over rights to way.
The soldiers, who were said to number more than thirty (30), were reported to have kidnapped two police officers who were working as traffic wardens and taken them to their barracks, while the third officer managed to escape.
According to a source, the three Police Officers on duty at the time of the incident stopped the lane through which the Soldiers were driving in a Coastal bus to allow other road users on the other lane to pass, unaware that the coastal bus was transporting Soldiers who were still behind.
In the course of the confrontation, an argument with the Officers sprang up, the Soldiers became enraged and insisted on taking one-way.
The officers were said to have pounced on them and beaten them to a pulp. The soldiers also kidnapped two police officers and took them to their barracks, where they continued to beat them.
According to the source, when the soldiers noticed that the abducted policemen had become unconscious, they decided to take them to their cantonment hospital.
However, one of the police officers, Inspector Monday Orube, passed away on Thursday afternoon.
Another source stated that soldiers on their way to their cantonment in a coastal bus were stopped by police officers, who became enraged and asked why civilians would be allowed to pass before soldiers.
“Over 30 Soldiers beaten the three traffic wardens before they were abducted to their cantonment.”
They were both taken to the hospital because one of them was unconscious.
The officers were kidnapped, and their rifles, which included two AK-47s and more than seventy rounds of ammunition, have been in the custody of the Soldiers since Wednesday, when the incident occurred, and they have yet to be returned as of the time of filing this report.
The soldiers involved in this illegal act were said to be among the lowest in rank, having served for only four years, whereas the police officers are senior officers with over twenty years of service.
SP Benjamin Hundeyin, the Police Public Relations Officer for the Lagos State Command, confirmed the incident when contacted.
“It is true that an incident occurred on Wednesday around the Ojo area of the State between our officers and some soldiers numbering up to thirty,” he said.
He did, however, state that the Command and the sister Agency (The Army) involved in the incident are collaborating to resolve the problem.
