Lagos Police, FERMA Task Force Men Clash

There was pandemonium on Wednesday as
policemen attached to the Lagos State Taskforce
on Environmental and Special Offences
(Enforcement) Unit and officials of the Subsidy
Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme/
Federal Road Maintenance Agency Task Force
clashed in the Toll Gate area of the state.
Over 200 FERMA task force officials were arrested
and clamped in three Black Marias brought by the
police into the camp of the federal workers.
PUNCH Metro, who witnessed the event as it
unfolded, noted that at about 10.15am, the state
task force, led by the Chairman of the state task
force, Bayo Sulaiman, a Chief Superintendent of
Police, stormed the FERMA task force camp.
The policemen fired two tear gas canisters into
the camp and followed them with gun shots.
The action created confusion in the camp, making
it easy for the policemen to arrest some workers
constructing a fence in the camp as others took
to their heels.
Some of the federal officers, however, launched a
reprisal by throwing stones and bottles at the
policemen.
The state taskforce men responded by firing
another round of tear gas canisters that sent
everyone scurrying for safety.
Commuters on the Ketu Ikosi Road, were forced
to change direction while the bombardment
lasted.
A few of the FERMA task force men were seen
changing into muftis to avoid being arrested.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the crisis was
caused when the driver of a Sienna vehicle,
Timothy Uko, earlier arrested for a traffic offence
in Ketu, drove into the FERMA camp at the Toll
Gate area and was shielded from arrest.
One of the witnesses, who pleaded anonymity,
said, “The Lagos State Traffic Management
Authority officials arrested the man for driving on
BRT lane. They handed him over to the task force
men.
‘When he drove into the FERMA camp, they were
prevented from taking him away. The policemen
called for reinforcement.”
A policeman attached to the task force, however,
told our correspondent that the FERMA men also
beat up the policemen that were escorting the
driver to Alausa.
He said, “The FERMA taskforce officials attacked
the policemen with planks and bottles, inflicting
injuries on them.”
A FERMA task force official, who identified himself
simply as Savage, described the incident as
frightening.
Savage, a graduate of the Lagos State University,
said, “I joined the federal force because I needed
a job. The form was free, but the uniform was
sold for N35, 000. We have been training and
preparing, but with this attack, I don’t think I
want to continue.”
In his reaction, Sulaiman said, “They beat up our
men and held them hostage. We will not allow
them to take over our function. We arrested over
100 of them. If we allow this to go unchecked, it
will be worse next time.”
The driver of the Sienna bus said he did not know
any FERMA task force official, but decided to drive
into the camp to beg the policemen who arrested
him.
Uko, who was beaten up by the police for causing
the crisis, was also arrested.
Some of the federal task force officials, however,
said those that attacked the policemen had fled
and only the innocent ones were being held.
But the National Publicity Director of SURE-P/
FERMA Task Force, Mr. Olawale Oyeboh,
described the attack as an invasion by “LASTMA,
police and suspected thugs of the All Progressives
Cong