Posted by By Paul Ohia with agency report on
Battle for the ownership of 1004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos, has taken a new dimension, as armed mobile policemen has taken over the estate.
Battle for the ownership of 1004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos, has taken a new dimension, as armed mobile policemen has taken over the estate.
Sources told newsmen at the estate yesterday, that 20 policemen, armed with guns and teargas, keep watch over the estate.
Nobody could tell where they came from or on whose instructions they came.
Mr Paul Angya, a resident said the policemen's presence has not in anyway affect residents.
He said “although the policemen have not touched us yet, their presence alone is intimidating.
“They speed through the estate in their truck without regard for people walking on the road, Angya said, adding “the number of policemen increased from 20 to about 60, when another truckload arrived at the estate."
He said immediately residents noticed them, they contacted the state commissioner of police through their representatives, who informed them that the policemen were ``only on routine patrol of the estate'."
He warned of a likely crisis, if the policemen are not recalled, as the military men who live in the estate had threatened to dislodge them.
Meanwhile, Citizens Rights Watch (CRW), a non-governmental organisation has condemned move by the Federal Government to forcefully evict the resident.
The group's President, Gabriel Ojumah, and Director of Publicity, Steve Onumaegu, alleged in a statement that the residents would be evicted by weekend, and this will be followed by the eviction of other Federal tenants in Lagos.