Tension enveloped residents of the Akowonjo area of Lagos State on Friday 24th of January 2025 as Personnel of the Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria Immigration Service engaged in shootout.
The incident was said to have occurred at about 8:30 am when members of the Lagos State Police Task Force attempted to effect the arrest of a motorcycle rider in front of the immigration office.
The clash left an immigration officer and an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) with bullet wounds.
Eyewitnesses claimed that the immigration officers tried to intervene concerning the arrest of a commercial cyclist, but the Police Task Force officers refused to listen or identify with esprit de corps spirit of cooperation.
Read: How Immigration Officer Shot Partner While Trying To Shoot Policeman – Source
Both uniform personnel started arguing and it soon snowballed. Soon both parties engaged in fisticuff.
The fight took a nasty dimension as both teams opened fire at each other, unmindful that the axis was a residential and commercial area.
It was further gathered that gunfire, which reverberated through the area, forced people to scamper for safety, while commercial buses quickly reversed, struggling to keep out of harm’s way of flying bullets.
While the conflict was going on, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in charge of Shasha Police Station was said to have received a message concerning the issue and quickly raced to the scene.
Unfortunately for him, he was beaten black and blue by the immigration officers.
The immigration officers not only beat up the DPO, but they also collected his phone from him.
It was during the shootout that one of the immigration officers, whose identity is yet unknown, was shot in the leg and then rushed to Crystal Hospital.
The DPO was also rushed to the same hospital for treatment.
According to sources, the NSCDC officer, although rushed to Crystal Hospital, was rejected because of the seriousness of his injury.
NSCDC Lagos Command spokesman, Oluwaseun Abolurin, while admitting that he was aware of the fracas, denied knowing that anyone was shot, let alone an NSCDC operative.
He also stated that the NSCDC operatives involved in the conflict were attached to the Police Task Force Office.
Abolurin said that information about the clash was received just yesterday and that his Commandant would be debriefing the NSCDC operatives who were at the scene by Monday.
Although he said he could not speak much on the matter because the information was still sketchy, he promised Securitynewsalert.com to make public the truth of what transpired after a thorough investigation by NSCDC.
Securitynewsalert.com tried to reach out to the Lagos State Police Task Force spokesman, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem on the matter, but his phone was switched off.
Thereafter, Securitynewsalert.com contacted the Lagos State Police Task Force Chairman Adetayo Akerele, who said that he would get his Public Relations Officer to contact Securitynewsalert.com on the better, but as at the time of filling in this report, Gbadeyan was yet to reach out.
Securitynewsalert.com also repeatedly called the immigration officer, Passport Control Officer, Ikeja, Mr Oluwasegun Ogedengbe, concerning the matter, but he did not pick up his call. SMS and WhatsApp messages were sent to his phone line, but he still did not respond.
