Lagos Police arrest Inspector for assaulting PUNCH photojournalist

The Lagos state police command have arrested an Inspector for assaulting a photojournalist, Innocent Adadu during a protest in the Maryland area of the state.

The spokesman for the State Police Command, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement confirmed the development.

Adadu, attached to the Police Mobile Force, Ikeja was alleged  to have hit the journalist, Kayode Jaiyeola who works with The Punch, with a stick thereby injuring him.

However, the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, ordered the immediate detention of the officer.

“The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu,  has ordered for immediate detention and orderly room trial of one Inspector Adadu Innocent attached to PMF 22 Ikeja, for hitting with a stick and injuring one Kayode Jaiyeola, m, of the Punch newspaper at Maryland,  Lagos on Thursday, 1st October 2020 at about 11.10 am,” the statement partly read.

The commissioner, as learnt rushed to the scene and personally moved the injured journalist to the Police Hospital.

While waiting to ensure that the injured journalist was given immediate and best medical treatment, the police boss “cut-off his movements to stay throughout the journalist’s treatment and subsequent discharge.”

“The preliminary findings carried out by the Commissioner of Police and eye witness accounts from senior officers on ground, revealed that the cop suddenly attacked the journalist, without any previous altercation or confrontation.

“This propelled the Commissioner of Police to order for his trial in order to serve as a deterrent to others who are fond of engaging in unprofessional and unethical conduct,” the statement added.