The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, has ordered the transfer of all policemen attached to the Ajiwe Police Division, Ajah.
The state police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, disclosed that the Divisional Police Officer at the station had also been changed.
Hundeyin said shanties around the station had been dismantled, adding that similar measures would be replicated across divisions in the state.
The development was a sequel to an investigation by PUNCH Metro on how Ajah policemen were caught consuming alcohol after patronising vendors on the premises of the division.
Our correspondent visited the police station last Tuesday around 10am and shared his findings with the police spokesman that day while seeking a reaction.
In a report later published on Monday, PUNCH Metro exposed how some of the officers binged on alcohol on the premises of the police station.
One of two officers, who sat close to a barbing salon attached to a building beside the station, was seen with a glass cup of beer, which he sipped at intervals.
A policeman among another set of officers who took cover under a shed adjacent to the station was seen drinking a canned alcohol drink with a pistol strapped to his waist.
While some vendors found around the police station made some of the alcoholic drinks available within the officer’s reach, other officers stayed away from prying eyes by walking a distance to patronise other traders.
After observing this for close to one hour, a fair-looking officer, who was earlier seen pacing around the corridor of the station, beckoned on our correspondent.
Close contact with him showed that he was drunk, as his body reeked of alcohol.
While this reporter thought he was about to be questioned about his presence around the police post, the policeman, who sounded incoherent, requested a sum of N200.
Out of curiosity, the reporter gave him N1,000 in expectation of his balance.
The officer immediately took him to a vendor, bought a sachet of alcoholic drink and gulped it on the spot, while the vendor provided the balance.
PUNCH Metro also learnt that the police officers paid regular visits to some alcoholic vendors behind a motor park under the Ajah Bridge, where Raheem was shot dead.
Our correspondent, who visited the spot and mingled with some of the street urchins, observed as they hailed some of the policemen, who came to patronise a female customer spotted at a corner under the bridge.
It was also gathered that most of the policemen had spent a long time in the area and refused to be transferred.
Our reporter’s investigation followed the killing of a pregnant lawyer, Bolanle Raheem, by an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Drambi Vandi, who was attached to the station.
Two weeks before that shooting, an inspector, Imeh Johnson, attached to the division, also shot dead another resident, Gafaru Buraimoh, who was on his way to buy fuel.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, while reacting to PUNCH Metro’s report in a statement on Monday via his Twitter handle, announced the dismantling of the shanties on the premises of the station and the transfer of the officers.
He said, “The new DPO Ajah, CSP Adolf Ogwu, had earlier in the week dismantled all the shanties around the police station. In addition, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Abiodun Alabi, fdc has already effected the transfer out of all personnel of the division, with replacement from other divisions. This would fully materialise in a couple of days.
“While appreciating @MobilePunch for the exposé, we encourage more Lagos residents to, as usual, say something whenever they see something, as this would translate to a better policing experience for all. Remember, security is everyone’s business.”
Hundeyin, in a telephone interview with PUNCH Metro, said, “Anywhere there is report of alcoholism, similar method will be replicated. All we need to do is to give marching orders to our DPOs across the state to make sure that what the DPO in Ajah has done is also replicated in their areas of responsibilities if there is a similar problem,” he added.
But a lawyer and human rights activist, Inibehe Effiong, described the transfer order as window dressing.
He said, “There is a climate of impunity in that particular police station. The truth of the matter is that the police are not serious about reforms. What the Commissioner of Police has done is just window dressing. He knows that is not the solution. If officers are caught drinking while on duty, it is a misconduct under the Police Act.”
Meanwhile, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has condoled with Raheem’s family.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that Osinbajo contacted the family on December 28 to pray with them.
The vice president, during the phone call made from his vacation, also assured the deceased’s family of justice.
The late Raheem was a member of the Olive Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Ikoyi, where Osinbajo was a pastor until 2015 when he took office as vice president.
