Cops, troops trade blame

2005-10-05 22:20

Lagos - Nigerian police and army officers each blamed the other on Wednesday after a deadly clash between their forces triggered an orgy of arson and looting in downtown Lagos.

At least two civilians were killed in crossfire and a police headquarters was burned down on Tuesday after a dispute between armed police and soldiers turned into street fighting.

"It was an unprovoked attack on the police. The police did not fire a single shot," declared Lagos state police commissioner Ade Ajakaiye.

"You need to visit the Area C command and see the scale of destruction unleashed by the army. Many people were injured.

"On the number of deaths, we are still collating the figure," he told AFP.

Lagos police spokesperson Bode Ojajuni said: "I was kidnapped by the soldiers who beat and inflicted injuries on me. I am on my way to the hospital now for further treatment."

But a spokesperson for the army said that both sides had been involved in an argument and that soldiers were deployed after police had lost control of the streets and looting erupted.

"It was an unfortunate incident. Hoodlums took advantage of a small misunderstanding between soldiers and police to unleash terror," said Lagos army spokesperson Abayomi Dabiri.

"The miscreants attacked the police station, vandalised the place and set their relations who were in police custody free. Soldiers went there to restore order," he said.

Bodies

Dabiri said no-one was killed in the attack.

An AFP reporter, however, saw two bodies on Tuesday and front page press reports in several dailies showed photographs of civilian dead.

A Red Cross spokesperson confirmed there had been fatalities, but added: "We are yet to determine the exact number."

The police command headquarters in the Surulere area of Lagos, Nigeria's economic capital and the biggest city of Africa, was totally destroyed in Tuesday's fighting.

More than sixty vehicles, including 20 police jeeps, were torched, cell doors were smashed and flats rented by officers' families were looted. Officers said 34 suspects escaped from custody.

Witnesses said that the clash erupted when an army officer tried to prevent a police patrol extorting a 20 naira (seven cent) bribe from a motorcycle taxi driver.

"The policeman was very angry and slapped the soldier, who ran to mobilise his colleagues from a nearby army barracks," one said.

"There was shooting and five civilians ... were killed in the crossfire," he added.

The facade of the wrecked police station and vehicles in neighbouring streets were peppered with bullet holes, and witnesses reported that soldiers had opened fire on police.

Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 after 16 years of military dictatorship but tensions persist between military and civilian security forces.

- AFP