The Lagos State Police Command on Thursday, February 26, 2015 announced that it had arraigned 18 out of the 40 suspects arrested in connection with the violence which broke out in Oshodi area of the State on Wednesday, February 25, 2015.
While writing off rumours that the clash had political undertones, the Commissioner of Police Kayode Aderanti issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Oshodi Branch, Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo to report to the police or he would be declared wanted.
He said the major culprits “are already in custody. Today alone, we have arraigned 18 of them and they are in jail. And tomorrow, I am going to arraign about 17 among those arrested.
“I am not talking about the foot soldiers. I am talking about the leaders of these people. These are the people that are causing mayhem. What we need to do is to get the arrowhead off. Once the arrowheads are off, the foot soldiers can be tackled easily.
“Now we are going after the principals, people that are encouraging youths into violence. These are the people we want to dismantle their command and control structures. By the time we dismantle it, we can have people in that area.”
On MC Oluomo, Aderanti said: “If he refuses to surrender himself to any of our security agencies, we are going to declare him wanted. And it is going to be between us and him. He will not have any hiding place in Lagos State. Between two and three persons died. About eight vehicles were burnt. It is not 30 or 40 as reported.
“We appraised the situation in Oshodi and other areas. In the past two weeks, we have been having challenges within the union’s hierarchy there. The summary is that we have all agreed that henceforth we are going to move forward and implement the Lagos State Road Traffic Law, 2012, which prohibited the collection of tolls and dues within and around motor parks and garages.”
