Police CSP Deployed To Magodo By Malami, IGP Disobeys Sanwoolu In Public

An unnamed Chief Superintendent of Police on Tuesday openly went against the directives of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to leave the Magodo Phase 2 Estate area of the state.

The CSP told the governor that he and his armed colleagues were at the estate on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba; as well as the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).

Sanwo-Olu had accompanied members of his cabinet to see the residents protesting against the continuous presence of armed policemen in the estate.

For some days, policemen, who accompanied suspected land grabbers and members of a family who had planned to demolish property in the estate to execute a Supreme Court judgment, have laid siege on the estate, as a result causing commotion at the estate as landlords and tenants panic over their fate.

The residents had summoned the governor to intervene and Sanwo-Olu who was at the scene on Tuesday told the leader of the police delegation that the land matter was a case between private individuals and the state government.

According to Sanwo-Olu, “Can you call your superiors in Abuja and tell them that the governor is here and as the Chief Security Officer, you don’t have any business being in my state right now and that I want you to disengage right now?”

However, the CSP responded, “I am here on the instruction of the Inspector General of Police through the AGF. I am too small or too low to call them. Your Excellency sir, you can call them sir.

When asked of the number of policemen at the estate, the leader of the police delegation told Sanwoolu, “My men are here; they are all over the place, I cannot precisely tell you how many we are. For security purpose, I cannot tell you the number.”

After several unsuccessful attempts, the governor faced journalists and declared the presence of the policemen as illegal, stating that he would put some calls through to the IGP and the AGF.

Sanwoolu said, “They (policemen) are not from the Lagos State Police Command. They said they are from Abuja. I don’t know what other interest they have beyond keeping the peace of the country. This is not an expectation that I expect from them because they don’t have any business here.”