Lagos killings: Uneasy calm in Badagry •As police hold emergency meeting •Police lone survivor dies

FOUR days after the killing of both the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) of  Badagry police station in Lagos State, uneasy calm has continued to pervade the  town.

The visit of the Nigerian Tribune to the community, on Thursday, revealed that a few days after the alleged skirmish between the police and soldiers from the 242 Recce Battalion, Ibereko Barracks, shops and business centres remained closed for fear of the unknown.

This was just as tension was still brewing in the state police command over the whereabouts of four policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), who allegedly shot a soldier on Sunday.

Also, the usual traffic jam associated with the Lagos-Badagry highway, occasioned by several checkpoints mounted by the police, Customs and various security agencies, was visibly absent as traffic flowed freely.

Further checks revealed that only a handful of Customs officers were spotted at the Gbagi checkpoint; even at that, motorists were briskly searched and allowed to go, contrary to what normally obtained at the checkpoint.

Some of the motorists who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune condemned the bloody clash, but hailed the free-flow of traffic and wished that the trend continued.

Meanwhile, the police command, on Thursday, held a security meeting which lasted for many hours with sectional heads of the command.

Sources close to the meeting said all the divisional police officers and area commanders were present at the meeting.

It was learnt that the meeting was not unconnected with the attacks that claimed the lives of senior police officers in Badagry  between Tuesday and Thursday.

The sources were quoted as saying that part of the reasons for the emergency meeting was to harmonise both oral and written evidences emanating from the incident,  following the directive of the Inspector-General of Police to have the incident thoroughly investigated, with a view to finding the immediate and remote cause(s) of the clash.

There was, however, panic over the whereabouts and safety of four anti-riot policemen attached to the RRS unit of the state police command, who were alleged to be responsible for the killing of the yet-to-be identified soldier on Sunday.

The policemen were allegedly arrested on Sunday, moments after they gunned down the soldier and were taken to Ibereko Barracks where they were detained.

But it was not clear whether they were among those policemen that were allegedly killed in the barracks or not.

Nigerian Tribune further gathered that the ‘Area E’ Commander, Mr Olugbenga Adeyonju, who was said to have met with the commandant of the barracks moments after the shooting incident on Sunday, had allegedly requested for the release of the four policemen.

But the request was said to have been turned down by the commandant, on the grounds that their release might spark off violent protest by colleagues and friends of the slain soldier.

Checks further revealed that the whereabouts of the policemen allegedly  formed part of the ongoing investigation into the incident by the authorities of the state police command.

An unofficial information at the disposal of the Nigerian Tribune as at the time of filing this story on Thursday was that a new divisional police officer had allegedly assumed office at the Badagry division. He was identified as  Aliko Dakoli, a chief superintendent of police.

Meanwhile, the sole survivor of the attacks on men of the police station, Mr Taofeek Afolabi, on Thursday morning, died at the Ikeja General Hospital, Lagos.

The deceased officer was, until his death, the operational officer at the police station and had accompanied the DPO and DCO to the Ibereko barracks when he was shot.

Sources informed the Nigerian Tribune that the policeman died around  6.00 a.m, following the multiple gunsshots he received from men suspected to be soldiers.

His death threw the entire police command into panic, as he was the police witness in the joint police/army investigative committee set up by the Federal Government.

The spokesman for the state police command, Mr Samuel Jinadu, confirmed his death to the Nigerian Tribune.