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25 policemen hospitalised after clash with Air Force men
Horatius Egua and Ademola Oni
Twenty-five policemen who were injured in a spat with Air Force men at the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base, Ikeja on Tuesday and Wednesday are on admission at the intensive care unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos.
The injured men were taken to LASUTH after they were released from an overnight detention at the base following the intervention of the Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr. Israel Ajao.
The police, however, told our correspondents that the whereabouts of three of their men remained unknown.
An Air Force man was reported killed on Tuesday when the fracas erupted.
Investigation by our correspondents revealed that the face-off started when some policemen following a tip-off raided an alleged black-spot close to the Airforce Base.
During the raid, nine suspected miscreants were arrested at an Indian hemp smoking joint.
The deceased Air Force man along with some of his unidentified colleagues were said to have challenged the policemen.
The Air Force men were said to have freed some of the suspects.
An argument was said to have ensued between the police and the Air Force, a development that led to the shooting of the corporal.
Angered by the shooting, the other Air Force men went to the base and mobilised their colleagues and began to arrest and maltreat any policeman in sight.
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan, told our correspondents that following the outbreak of the crisis, Tinubu drafted some medical team to the scene of the crisis.
According to him, �The special intensive care unit was drafted by the governor and the commissioner of police also phoned requesting our assistance to help evacuate with our ambulance and emergency services unit and we immediately responded.
�There are critical cases. About seven of them are critical. One we suspect might have a ruptured spleen, some have head injuries, some have fractured legs. We are hoping that the head injuries are not severe. They are being kept on special intensive care,� he said.
Samuel David, one of the victims and orderly to the former Inspector-General of police, Alhaji Aliu Attah, told our correspondents that he was attacked by some Air Force men in front of the Air Force Base while returning from the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport where he gone to see off Attah�s son.
According to him, �We went to drop the son of my oga this morning and on our way back, we were attacked. I ran to the base thinking that I would be safe there but was shocked to be attacked and severely beaten by some Air Force men at the base. They took my service pistol and that of our driver.�
Our correspondents gathered from one of the policemen that only one of the service pistols was recovered form the Air Force men.
When our correspondents visited the base on Wednesday, the Mercedes Benz V-Boot belonging to the former IG with registration number CG 219 JJJ was still parked opposite the base with the front, back windscreens and all the side glasses shattered.
Ajao, who expressed shock over the incident, said he would not comment on the issue until he had briefed the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun.
It was gathered that the authorities of the Air Force Base had restricted the movement of their men to the base.
A top officer of the command said the restriction order was necessary to calm frayed nerves and stop the men, mostly junior officers, from �taking any rash decision.�
When contacted, Command�s Public Relations Officer, Wing Comdr. Emeka Ozoemena, said that the command would make a statement on the incident on Thursday, �to correct the distortions that had been fed to the public.�
The Punch, Thursday July 08, 2004
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