AGBADO LAGOS POLICEMEN ON THE RAMPAGE AGAIN -– ENGAGE IN BRAZEN EXTORTION OF MARKET WOMEN, OKADA AND RESIDENTS

It is often said that the police are friends of the people; that they are for peace making and not to create conflict in our communities. But in Agbado, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Lagos, the opposite seems to be the case.
There, a team of police personnel, led by an Inspector who is a citizen of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, is bent on standing this aphorism on its head. This team seems fond of forcefully collecting money from all the market women and commercial motorbike riders, popularly known as okada, along Agbado Giwa Oke-Aro axis.
A commercial motorcyclist, who spoke to Beth News on the condition of anonymity, said it has become routine for the traders and transporters to pool money every Wednesday and Friday for this extortionist set of policemen. Another source, a market woman, revealed that the policemen usually come in a white bus without number plates. And woe betide the extorted traders or cyclists who fail to pay such ‘dues’ or complain of not being able to meet up with the stipulated fee.
A retired civil servant who witnessed the bestial way the wayward Agbado police operatives maltreat the market women described it as unfair in a democratic government. He recalled that even in the military government era, the police were usually discreet in their demand for bribe, not in the brazen fashion they are now accustomed to behaving.
 Sometime last year, a set of fully armed men in mufti who claimed to be policemen attached to the Agbado unit, crammed themselves inside a 10-seater bus painted red, and with ‘Agbado Police  Station’ inscribed on it, came on their usual raid, threatening fire and brimstone on whomsoever refused to cooperate with them as far as giving them what they wanted. This riled the market women and residents of Agbado Oke-Aro axis to the extreme and, determined to put an end to the shameful extortion,they gathered together and attacked the lawless lawkeepers. In the ensuing melee, some people were wounded while a police patrol bus was damaged beyond repair.

While that action put a stop to the unsavoury act at that time, Beth News can authoritatively affirm that the ugly trend is rising its ugly head again in the same area. And before the situation goes beyond control, we call on the Area Commander at Agbado Police Station to put a stop to the disgraceful conduct of his men.