Thursday 31 October 2013

25 arrested as Okada men fight in court premises

The Ogun State Police Command
has arrested 25 commercial motorcyclists,
popularly known as okada, in connection with
violent clash at the premises of the Federal
High Court, Abeokuta, where dozens of people were severely injured. The warring members of the Amalgamated
Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders
Association, ACOMORAN, in the state had
gathered in the court over a suit filed by the
former Secretary of the association, Lateef
Yekini, challenging his alleged detention sometime ago by the association’s Chairman,
Alhaji Shamsudeen Apelogun. However, shortly after the case was adjourned
by the presiding judge to December 3, the
association’s members began to fight at the
court premises, leaving the state ACOMORAN
Treasurer, Razaq Sotayo, critically injured. An eyewitness told Vanguard that the
hoodlums freely used dangerous weapons,
including guns and machetes, forcing many
people in the area to scamper for safety. It was gathered that the sporadic gunshots of
the okada men attracted the attention of
security agents from the military, Police,
Department of State Services, DSS and Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, who
restored normalcy after some of the fighters were apprehended. Confirming the incident, the state Acting Police
Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abimbola
Oyeyemi, disclosed that no fewer than 25
suspects had been arrested in connection with
the fracas. Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of
Police, said normalcy had already been restored
and that the suspects would face prosecution. He said: “Currently, about 25 hoodlums were
arrested and they are undergoing interrogation.
They are going to be screened. Those who were
not part of the fracas will be definitely
released. “But those who perpetrated the act are going
to be prosecuted at the law court. Few people
sustained injuries, but I cannot confirm their
number at the moment. “Our own concern is to bring the situation
under control and make sure those who
perpetrated the act are dealt with according to
the law.” Meantime, the Apelogun group had accused
the former Secretary of inviting security
agents into the matter. Apelogun, who spoke with newsmen, absolved
himself from the fracas, saying it was the
former Secretary that mobilised armed
hoodlums from Ibadan and some neighbouring
towns to cause crisis. He said: “The former secretary was facing
criminal charge at the Magistrate’s Court over
embezzlement. He later sued me for unlawful
detention, even though I’m not a security
agent. “Today (yesterday), the presiding judge asked
us to bring all our trustees to court.”

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