Following the violent breaking up of their peaceful procession and subsequent arrest and detention of members of the civil society last Saturday in Lagos, activists have called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to reprimand the Lagos State police command.

In a statement released by the Joint Action Front (JAF), Monday, the activists described the action of Noah Adesoyin, the commandant of Area F, Ikeja – who acted out the script of Yusuf Alkali, the Lagos Police Commissioner – as that of “a drunken, heavily drugged and possessed person.” 

“JAF wants the IGP to call the Lagos State Police Command to order in respect to the illegal breaking and brutalisation of peaceful protest, which has become its trademark in recent times,” read the statement signed by Abiodun Aremu, JAF’s secretary.

“The Inspector General must know that ACP Noah was so overzealous with the use of force and consumed by criminality by the crude and cocky manner he barked orders at the junior ranking police officers to ‘shoot them, beat them’. 

“He was so murderous that he called some of his men who were trying to be reasonable ‘beasts'”.

The group also described as unfortunate comments attributed to the Joseph Jaiyeola, the Lagos State police spokesperson, in a national daily, saying that the organizers of the procession were “miscreants”.

“Mr. Jaiyeola must certainly be hallucinating and criminally-minded to have irresponsibly describe Dr. Dipo Fashina – Chairperson of JAF, Mrs. Ganiat Fawehinmi, Muhammed Fawehinmi and other arrested but notable activists as miscreants.” 

JAF maintained that a letter written on February 15th by Bamidele Aturu, their solicitor, was duly received and stamped in the Lagos police commissioner’s office. 

“It is unfortunate that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP) and the Police PRO could blatantly deny that they had no advance information about the February 18th procession they repressed.” 

The activists called for an “immediate reprimand” of Mr. Adesoyin to “save Nigeria from further victims of torture and extra-judicial killings in the hands of trigger-happy police officers.”

“We therefore demand that the IGP should call the Lagos CP to order because we are resolved to organise more rallies and protests to further the struggle for the social transformation of our country.”