Posted by By Evelyn Usman & Mayowa Oyewale on
THE Lagos State Police Command yesterday said it had begun investigation into alleged involvement of some officials of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) in the stealing of a lorry load of cement, including bundles of lace materilas and fridges after demolishing some shops Sunday at Marine Beach, Apapa.
LAGOS - THE Lagos State Police Command yesterday said it had begun investigation into alleged involvement of some officials of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) in the stealing of a lorry load of cement, including bundles of lace materilas and fridges after demolishing some shops Sunday at Marine Beach, Apapa.
The FERMA officials who reportedly stormed the area in two vehicles with unknown registration numbers to carry out the demolition exercise at about 7am, were also alleged to have removed an unspecified amount of money from the affected shops in the process. Some persons, some of who were the shop owners who stood on the officials way to prevent them from demolishing their shops, were reportedly arrested and whisked away in their operational vehicles at the end of the exercise.
The action was said to have cause pandemonium as residents in the area and other shop owners who were informed attempted to beat up the officials.
Confirming the report to newsmen, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Olubode Ojajuni said one commercial volkswagen mini-bus with registration number XD 126 LSD and a Toyota Land rover with registration number BL 8JJJ were set ablaze in the ensuing scuffle.
Ojajuni stated that there had been no arrest as some policemen from Apapa division who visited the scene immediately they were informed, met that the FERMA officials had left.
Explaining, he said, "on 14, August 2005, at about 0700 hours, there was a report at Apapa police station that some FERMA officials demolished some shops at Marine Beach, Apapa and allegedly stole some bundles of lace materials, fridges, towels, a lorry fully loaded with cement".