Cops Break Okada Rider’s Leg

It was a case of jungle justice at Jungle bus stop in Ifako-Ijaiye Council Area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, when four policemen attacked a commercial motorcyclist, (okada rider) Lukman Bankole.

Eyewitnesses told P.M.NEWS that the four policemen flagged down the okada rider to extort money from him, he did not stop in good time. One of them allegedly hit him with a plank and his left leg was broken.

Lukman said the policemen took him to a local Hausa bone setter in the area who charged him N100,000 to mend his broken leg.

But the police abandoned him there and reneged on their earlier promise to pay half of the money.

He said his brother, Jamiu Bankole took him to another bone setter who also demanded N100,000 and while his brother paid N6,000 deposit, the policemen did not even follow them to the place.

Lukman decried the attack on him by the policemen, blaming it on the faulty brake of his bike which made it difficult for him to stop when the policemen flagged him down for a stop and search.

Lagos State Police Command, Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mrs. Ngozi Braide denied the allegation that the okada rider was attacked with a plank.

Braide said Bankole was riding a motorcycle without a number plate and when policemen tried to arrested him, he sped off to avoid being arrested and crashed into a drainage channel where his leg was broken.

She explained that out of pity, the policemen assisted in taking him to a Hausa bone setter but they never promised to pay half of the money charged.

—Ayodeji Dedeigbo & Daniel Ogunjobi