The Lagos State Police Command has revealed that it had arrested two policemen who allegedly assaulted a lawyer, Olakunle Kareem.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, who made this known also said the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the Lion Building division had also been queried.
Kareem and his boss, Oluyemi Olawore, a senior lawyer and managing partner at Olawore & Co., had a disagreement at the chamber on McCarthy Street, Lagos Island.
Olawore was said to have invited the policemen from the Lion Building Police Division, accusing Kareem of attacking and holding him hostage.
In a viral video on the internet on Wednesday, two officers could be seen slapping Kareem several times on the face.
The victim, who asked the policemen to listen to him, denied holding his boss hostage, as one of the officers held him by the neck and threatened to shoot him in the leg.
In a statement on Thursday, Oti said the officers had been arrested for unprofessional conduct, adding that they would be tried on oath.
He said: “A video of police officers assaulting a young lawyer said to be demanding his salary caught the attention of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Edgal Imohimi, who constituted an investigation panel to look into the allegation.
“Findings revealed that officers in the video are not SARS operatives as alleged, but conventional policemen attached to the Lion Building Police Station, who were invited to the chamber of Olawore & Co. of 28/30, McCarty Street, Lagos Island, by the managing partner, Oluyomi Olawore.
“The said Oluyomi Olawore sent a distress call to the police through one of his junior partners, requesting that he be rescued from another junior partner by name, Olakunle Kareem, whom he alleged was about to use an unlawful force on him having disconnected the firms’ CCTV cameras and locked up all doors leading into the firm and by so doing, held Olawore hostage inside his office.
“It was based on the complaint that the DPO in charge of Lion Building dispatched policemen to the chamber to bring the feuding lawyers over for interrogation. However, the Commissioner of Police observed with dismay that the policemen sent to the scene were not at their professional best.
“He has therefore ordered that the policemen, who have been arrested, be tried on oath. They risk stiff punishments for their actions. The CP also directed that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Lion Building division be queried for lack of supervision.”
The police spokesperson added that the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, had been directed to take over investigation into the case involving the two lawyers and prosecute whoever is found culpable.
-Video of SARS officers slapping a young lawyer, for demanding his salary from his boss, who happens to be a lawyer as well.
– The boss who is a lawyer called in police officers to deal with the "young man" for asking him of his unpaid salary.
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— SubDeliveryZone (@SubDeliveryZone) July 4, 2018