Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, the Commissioner of Police (CP), Lagos State, has decried attacks on police personnel. He said this in reaction to a circulating video in which two policemen were assaulted and falsely accused of stealing mobile phones at the Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos.
He said that “the authors of the referred viral video painted the incident mischievously and in a bad light with an attempt to ridicule the entire Nigeria Police Force.
“The policemen never went to buy phones, neither were they caught in any act of theft at the computer village.
“The HP Electronics Company’s taskforce on piracy with the police operatives was on a routine operation against piracy and sub-standard products in the market,” he said. The CP said that some hoodlums, in a bid to distract and halt the anti-piracy operation, created a scene by attacking the team and passing uncomplimentary remarks on the policemen.
“The team was eventually chased away by the hoodlums and did not allow the operation to succeed, due to their criminal tendencies.
“The policemen are not thieves, but operatives on official and legal operation, contrary to the wrong impression painted by the originators of the fake video on social media.
“The State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is investigating the theft allegation and attacks on the policemen and the team.”
Odumosu said this type of false allegation and attack on police operatives was the third of its kind in recent time in the same computer village.
He warned the general public to be law-abiding and avoid false alarms capable of triggering attacks and criminality.
