Nigeria: Many Injured As 'Soldiers' Set Ogun Police Station On Fire

Ogun State on map.
16 February 2023

Men dressed in uniform of the Nigerian Army, on Wednesday, attacked Ogijo police station in Ogun State over an alleged assault on a soldier by some policemen.

At the end of the attack, the "soldiers", who stormed the station without their name tag, set it on fire.

Many persons, including some policemen, sustained injuries during the attack.

There was pandemonium in the area as passersby scampered for safety all through the period that the attack lasted.

A source said the soldiers, who were from 174 Battalion Odugunyan in Ikorodu, Lagos, were on a reprisal following an earlier altercation between a policeman and a soldier.

The policeman was said to have stabbed the soldier on his chest during the altercation.

The soldiers were said to have been angered by the action of the policeman who later sought refuge in Ogijo police station.

"Our station is under heavy assault by men of the Nigerian Army from 174 Battalion Odogunyan. They have set the station on fire due to an earlier quarrel between a mobile policeman and a soldier. In fact, earlier today a soldier and the mobile policeman engaged themselves in physical combat, leading to the mobile policeman overpowering the soldier with a leather punch," the source said.

It is yet unclear if police personnel were attacked, injured, and killed during the attack on the station

Responding to questions on the attack, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, on his official Twitter handle said. "We wish to clarify that the unrest is at Ogijo, Ogun State, though very close to Ikorodu, Lagos.

"Our officers are at alert and would not allow any breakdown of law and order within Lagos State.*

The military is yet to react to the report.

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