Man in court for setting police station on fire

On Thursday, the Lagos State Police Command brought a guy named Wasiu Akingbola, who is 27 years old, before an Ikeja Magistrates Court sitting in Ogba. Akingbola is accused of attacking a police officer and setting fire to a police station.

Akingbola is being charged with four separate offences, including assault, arson, inflicting bodily harm, and membership in a hidden cult.

Inspector Kokoye Olusegun, who is in charge of the prosecution for the police department, said before the court that the defendant and other individuals who are still at large committed the alleged offences on May 29, 2023.

According to him, the event took place at approximately three in the morning at the Oregun Police Post, which is located in the Oregun Ikeja neighbourhood of Lagos.

Olusegun testified in front of the court that the defendant, along with around fifteen other members of the Supreme Eiye Confraternity, was responsible for instigating the assault on the police post.

He claimed that the defendant, along with his cohorts, had demanded that the officer on duty, Inspector Eche Emmanuel, release one Inspector Kabiru for them. However, when they were informed that the officer was not stationed at the outpost, the hoodlums assaulted the officer on duty, set fire to the police outpost, and then fled the scene.

The prosecutor continued by telling the court that Akingbola was detained at Alausa Police Station for another matter as a result of him being recognised by the officer who was on duty at the Oregun outpost and the DPO being notified of his presence.

According to him, the offences that were carried out were in violation of Sections 411, 170, 173/174 (b), 341 (a), and 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015 respectively.

Mrs. Sakirat Obasa, the Magistrate, did not take the defendant’s plea when she adjourned the case until September 25, 2023, so that she may seek the counsel of the Director of Public Prosecution.