Court remands Lagos residents attacked by police officers for ‘playing ludo’

An Ejigbo magistrate court in Lagos has remanded four residents of the state who were attacked by police officers for “gambling”.

On Thursday, some police officers on mufti from the Area P command in Lagos state had stormed a shop in the area to arrest some youths who were playing ludo.

The officers, who were armed with Ak-47 rifles, invaded the area with a yellow commercial bus to arrest the youths, but some residents resisted the arrest, saying the officers were not identifiable and playing ludo was not a criminal offence.

The police officers, however, phoned their colleagues at the Area P command around the Gate bus stop in Ipaja, alleging they were under attack.

A few minutes later, about 15 police officers stormed the area in three yellow commercial buses and attacked the residents with machetes and bottles.

A police officer had broken an empty bottle on a car mechanic’s head. The mechanic, who was repairing a vehicle in his workshop, was carted away with some other residents.

A police officer also hit a lady with a machete on her buttocks.

Four of the residents were, however, released before others were taken to court. A resident who spoke with this reporter said they were released after they parted with N80,000 at the police station.

VIDEO: The moment police officers arrested youths over ludo game in Alimosho LGA pic.twitter.com/0Aot8Oxxhm

— TheCable (@thecableng) March 1, 2024

On Friday, the court remanded the remaining four residents in prison till March 25.

In a statement on Friday, Benjamin Hundeyin, the state police spokesperson, claimed the residents were arrested over unlawful assembly and drug abuse.

“Following repeated complaints from residents of Harmony Estate, Aboru, Lagos about the activities of young men in the habit of converging around the entrance of the estate at morning and night gambling, selling/smoking hard drugs, harassing/hindering free movement of residents and extorting passers-by, operatives of the Command drawn from Area P, Alagbado carried out a thorough surveillance of the area and subsequently stormed the area at about 0800 hours on Thursday, February 29, 2024, to arrest the miscreants,” the statement reads.

“A total of eight suspects were arrested with substances, suspected to be hard drugs, resulting in the blockage of road by other miscreants who demanded the release of their cohorts before the Police could leave the vicinity. The miscreants equally assaulted the officers, who, however, called for and received reinforcement, enabling them to successfully move the suspects and exhibits to the station.

“Further investigations at the station proved that four of the eight arrested were not culpable. They were, therefore, freed while the remaining four, Afolabi Joshua ‘m’ aged 24, Isaiah Omogbolahan ‘m’ aged 25, Oluwadamilare Kayode ‘m’ aged 38 and Friday Anamaliu ‘m’ aged 40, were arraigned on March 1, 2024 at Ejigbo Magistrate Court and remanded by the court in prison custody till March 25, 2024.

“News making the rounds that the suspects were arrested for playing Ludo game are entirely false and only brought up by some of the miscreants, who managed to escape, in a bid to change the narrative and divert attention from the real issues.”

TheCable reporter, who was at the scene of the arrest and reported the development, sent a text message to Hundeyin that he was misled by officers who briefed him from the Area P command as the statement was laced with half-truth of what transpired.

The police spokesperson has not responded to the message sent to him.