There was unrest at the Mile 2 axis of Lagos State on Tuesday (today) following the alleged killing of a yet-to-be-identified man by officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Enforcement Unit, also known as task force.
A video which was circulated on social media on Tuesday morning showed a bonfire suspected to have been set up on the Mile 2 Expressway by youths in the area, while a voice could be heard in the video telling people to avoid the Mile 2 area, alleging that task force officials had killed a man there.
The voice in the 18-second video further said, “Currently at Mile 2, task force has killed somebody. It’s a shutdown and it’s a no-go area. Please avoid Mile 2 area.”
In a swift reaction, the state task force stated that none of its personnel was posted out for operations today except for officers posted to Freedom Park, Ojota, and Maryland to maintain peace and orderliness where a rally by the Nigerian Labour Congress had been scheduled to hold.
A statement issued by the Director, Press and Public Affairs at the Lagos State Task Force Affairs, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, quoted the agency chairman, CSP Shola Jejeloye, as explaining that the agency is usually mistaken for other enforcement units.
He clarified that task force personnel were clearly dressed in tactical jackets with ‘Task Force’ clearly inscribed in front and behind with unique identification numbers.
“None of our men were posted out today for environmental and traffic operations, rather they were only posted to freedom park to maintain peace and orderliness during the planned NLC rally so that miscreants and other sinister forces do not hijack the protest. Our operational jackets are clearly branded with unique identification numbers for members of the public to recognize during our operations,” he reiterated.
Jejeloye therefore urged those pointing accusing fingers at the agency to further beam their searchlight at other public or private establishments who branded their enforcement units as taskforce.
He however assured that his Agency will do all within its power to get to the root of the matter and ensure that perpetrators of the heinous crime are brought to book.
Meanwhile, the Police Spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, while reacting to the video on X (@BenHundeyin), said that policemen had been deployed to the scene.
He confirmed the policemen have cleared the obstacles and have ensured free flow of traffic.
