Lagos lawmakers to investigate alleged killings in Otodo-Gbame

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday set up ad-hoc committee to investigate alleged killings and destruction of property in Otodo-Gbame in Ikate- Elegushi Local Council Development Area of the state.

The Speaker of the Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, said the five-member committee would be headed by the Majority Leader of the House, Sanai Agunbiade.

Other members of the committee are Adefunmilayo Tejuoso (APC-Mushin I), Lanre Ogunyemi (APC-Ojo II), Tunde Braimoh (APC- Kosofe) and Mosunmola Sangodara (PDP-Surulere II).

He said the committee would submit its report to the House in seven days.

Residents of the area, on Monday, staged a protest to the House seeking intervention of the lawmakers on the matter.

The protesters also stormed the Assembly on Tuesday lying on the road to prevent vehicles from moving along Lagos Assembly and Lagos House area until they were dispersed by security men.

The protesters alleged destruction of their property by agents of the state government.

The group, which included women and children, chanted several solidarity songs, and urged the lawmakers to save them from alleged harassment and intimidation by officers from Jakande Police Station.

They also claimed that a daughter of a general and a traditional ruler and one other person, used thugs, police and soldiers to harass them.

A spokesman for the protesters, Bokoh Oluwole, who is a leader in the community, alleged that they were being treated like animals and slaves.

Mr. Oluwole further alleged that suspected hoodlums went to the community on November 8 and destroyed property worth millions of naira.

He added that the hoodlums set property ablaze; adding that victims who ran into water for safety met their death while some were missing.

“Not fewer less than 400 houses were burnt and we were told that policemen were in the community again today destroying property.

“We have since recovered about three bodies from the water. We are still looking for five more people.

“They did not give us a single notice, we just saw them claiming ownership of the land and there is no court judgment on the matter”, he said.

Mr. Obasa, who noted that reports of the protest were in the newspapers, said that the Assembly would not condone extrajudicial killings in the state by security men.