10th August, 2015
Kazeem Ugbodaga
The new Chairman, Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, Olubukola Abe has vowed to deal ruthlessly with any taskforce member caught collecting bribe or extortion from members of the public.
Abe, a Superintendent of Police, SP, was appointed new Taskforce Chairman after the former was sacked by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Friday over alleged extortion.
He said the era of taskforce members going out to demand for bribe or extortion from motorists was over, saying that anyone caught henceforth would be severely dealt with.
According to him, the Commissioner of Police had declared zero tolerance to corruption and declared that corruption would not have a place in his tenure as police boss in the state.
Abe said it was not possible for taskforce members to be corrupt and enforce the law at the same time, saying that it was not going to be business as usual.
On the return of hoodlums to Oshodi, Abe stated that his men would soon raid the area and cleared it as Governor Ambode wanted extreme sanity in the area.
“We are going to do it urgently, within the next two or three days. We don’t want lawlessness. The exercise will not take us time,” he said.
He also said the taskforce was ready to clear Lagos roads off street trading as the state government detested petty robbery of motorists by hoodlums during traffic gridlock.
He advised traders to be law abiding and go about their normal duties as the taskforce would ensure that they were protected, adding that his mission as taskforce boss was to bring sanity back to the environment.
However, the new Taskforce chairman was born in 1969 and bagged a Higher National Diploma, HND, in Accounting. His last place of service before being made the taskforce boss was the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.