In an unexpected incident that happened in recent days, a group of furious youth set fire to a Lagos Police Station located at Olayiwola Close, Oregun neighborhood of Ikeja, over an alleged killing of a 23-year-old Idris Bakare by a police officer identified as Kabiru. Reports by the press found that the station was intentionally set on fire at around 3 a.m. on May 28, 2023, and that a police officer allegedly shot and killed a man named Bakare at around 12:00a.m that same day.
When the reporters visited the location, they discovered that the victims’ friends and other local residents had assembled in groups to mourn the young man they described as easygoing. One of his friends, who requested anonymity, stated that they had planned to visit Fela Shrine before the incident. He was quoted as saying “we were supposed to go to Fela Shrine and he asked me to wait for him to take his phone from his room, but in return, I told him to go and sleep because we couldn’t go to the shrine again because it was a Sunday,”
Police said an inquiry into the incident had commenced.
A Police officer by the name, Kabiru parked at the other side of the road, and some people pointed out that the officer saw the man before the incident, made a judgement and then he went back to his car to park at the Divine Health Centre, Lawal Street, at that time he pointed his gun at Idris and shot him dead. A few teenagers retaliated by attacking the station at 3 a.m., chasing the cops and injuring one of them. According to a squad of police officers stationed around the surrounding streets with three vans, the injured officer was immediately taken to a medical facility at the toll gate along the Lagos-Ibadan Motorway.
According to reports, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service (LSFR) was called in to help the situation. The fire was extinguished, but the police station was destroyed. The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the attack, saying that an inquiry into the incident had begun and that the officer responsible for the assault, Inspector Kabiru, had been detained and was being held at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) in Yaba, Lagos.
Two alleged Oodua Nation agitators were detained prior to the attack.
While the investigation is still underway, he noted that no one has been arrested in connection with the incident at the station and noted that the injured officer is doing fine. Another witness, an elderly woman who lives next to the station, said she counts her blessings police officers detained two alleged Oodua Nation agitators as her home was left untouched. 24 hours prior to the attackers who had broken into the Alausa Division of the Lagos State Police Command. A police spokesperson claimed that the agitators stormed the station at 5:30 a.m. on May 28, 2023, armed with a variety of charms and cutlasses.
Hundeyin explained that the suspects arrived at the station and straight away began recording with their phones while shouting, “Yoruba Nation have taken over in Yorubaland.” According to the spokesperson, the suspects attacked the police officers who were attempting to remove them, and with the help of police reinforcements just two of the agitators were apprehended while the others got away. From them, we were able to retrieve various charms, cutlasses, and the group’s symbol, he added.
Apprehended suspects have begun cooperating with investigators.
The Yoruba Nation agitators claimed they had a letter from the UN verifying their legitimacy and were at the station to present it. Alausa area as a whole, including the Station, is now more heavily patrolled by police, and calm and peace have been restored. According to Hundeyin, the apprehended suspects have already begun cooperating with investigators by providing crucial information about the group’s membership and future goals, allowing the police to more effectively counteract the threat they pose. The statement went on to say that updates would be provided “in due course.”
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