There was pandemonium at the Apapa Police Station in Lagos State recently when some armed suspected hoodlums attacked and broke into the cell of the station in their attempt to set free some arrested persons.
Our correspondent gathered that the suspected hoodlums numbering about 15 forcibly entered the police station, headed straight to its cells, broke the locks on the cell doors and set free the suspects.
The attackers allegedly armed with various dangerous weapons, were, however, said to have been confronted and resisted by the some policemen led by the Divisional Police Officer, Chief Superintendent of Police Olanrewaju Edegbai and the divisional crime officer.
The policemen were said to have repelled the attack and even succeeded in arresting some of the hoodlums. They were also said to have rearrested some of the detained suspects, who fled when the station’s cell was broken into.
According to a police sergeant, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, “The whole thing was like a movie. About 15 men came and went straight to the cell and after breaking the cell, they released the suspects. It was unbelievable! But policemen on ground did not allow the suspects to escape. We even arrested some of the perpetrators. Some of them were armed with daggers.
“The Divisional Police Officer of the station (CSP Olanrewaju Edegbai) is a man. Even as he is still nursing injuries he sustained when his vehicle somersaulted along the Ore- Benin expressway recently, causing the death of a police officer with whom he was driving, the DPO still struggled with the suspects, who wanted to escape from the station. Policemen also arrested some of those who came to free the suspects. All I can tell you is that there was a raid and those Hausa people came to free their people by force. They broke the key of the cell and the suspects were already trying to escape, but the policemen on ground, including the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), all of us, tried very hard to ensure that the hoodlums did not succeed in their motive. Since I joined the Nigeria Police, I have never witnessed such a thing. It was like a thriller movie. The men just rushed in and before you knew it, they had opened the cell for the suspects to
escape.”
A police inspector, who also preferred not to be identified, said, “Arrests were made. There was a raid. But those people were not happy about it and they mapped out a plan to free their people and to even attack the station. Fortunately enough, the police overpowered them. The police arrested them. Those who wanted to escape could not, because we later rounded them up. Our DPO and DCO are great men. It was like thug of war. But at the end, the police triumphed. Do you know what would have happened if those suspects had escaped from the cell. The DPO would have been in trouble by now. It would look as if the police planned it. The public would say the police wanted somebody close to them or even collected money to set somebody free. Those people were very bold to have carried out such an act. You should know that they come from the North, anyway.”
A top officer attached to the Area ‘B’ Apapa Police Command, who also spoke on condition of anonymity said, “If it were in those days when the police force was still the police force, many of them would have been dead by now. Breaking into a police cell is like a jailbreak. The policemen would have shot at anybody, who attempted to escape from the station. The policemen were equal to the task. They attempted to escape, but police still overpowered them and rounded them up. Even some of those that carried out the plan from the outside were also arrested and pushed into the cell.
“Apapa cell is not one where you can forcibly release your gang members. It’s not possible. They cannot stop us from doing our job. When you err, we arrest. If they had succeeded, trust Nigerians, that would have been the next problem police would be facing. Trying to secure those in the cell. If they had escaped, their family members would have come back to demand for their relations. What will the police tell them? They would have concocted something against the police.”
