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 a photojournalist. 

The photojournalist  who was identified as Kayode Jaiyeola, (Male) works for the Punch newspaper at Maryland, Lagos on Thursday, 1st October, 2020 at about 11.10am.

According to reports obtained, Jaiyeola was part of journalists covering an October 1 protest in Lagos state, was brutalised at the Maryland area of the state.

It was gathered that the incident happened around 12 noon when a policeman, Innocent Adadu, hit Jaiyeola’s head with a baton. Jaiyeola’s colleague and Punch reporter, Deji Lambo, who was at the scene, said Adadu hit Jaiyeola with such force that the photojournalist collapsed immediately, with blood gushing out of his injured skull.

He said Adadu tried to flee into a police vehicle after attacking Jaiyeola but “I grabbed his shirt, insisting that he had injured a journalist.”

Lambo said, “Adadu’s colleagues also shielded their own and whisked him into a police vehicle. They also pushed Jaiye into the same vehicle.”

He said Jaiyeola was taken to the Police Clinic in Ikeja, the state capital, where his injured head was stitched.

Jaiyeola’s camera was also seized by police officers during the encounter.

According to a statement by police chief,  the Police Commando was monitoring the deployment and operational activities of officers and men of the command for the enforcement of the order against unlawful gathering and protest by some unpatriotic individuals, raced to the scene and personally moved the injured journalist to the Police Cottage(hospital) at Area F, GRA, Ikeja, where he personally waited and ensured the injured journalist was given immediate and best medical treatment.

The Lagos Police Commissioner cut-off his movements to stay throughout the photojournalist’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 deterrent to others who are fond of engaging in unprofessional and unethical conducts.

CP Hakeem Odumosu urged the general public to believe in the command’s commitment to sanitizing and reforming the policing system in Lagos State in conformity with the international standards.