Immigration Officers And Traffic Officers Clash In Ogun (Photo)

There was pandemonium in Abeokuta on Tuesday after
about 26 armed officers and men of the Nigeria
Immigration Service, Ogun State Command, invaded the
Abeokuta zonal command headquarters of the Ogun State
Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps in the Ibara
area of the state.
The immigration men were said to have battered four
TRACE officers, while about six other personnel of the
traffic agency were allegedly abducted by the NIS
operatives in different parts of the city.
Our correspondent gathered that the NIS operatives’
invasion was a reprisal, as an unnamed immigration
officer was allegedly assaulted earlier in the day.
Eight TRACE men were said to have beaten up a Chief
Superintendent of Immigration in the Sapon area of the
state, who was alleged to have parked his car at an
unathorised section of the road.
Our correspondent gathered there was an altercation
between the traffic corps members and the immigration
officer, who was in company with one of his colleagues,
over what was considered a breach of traffic rules.
Tempers allegedly rose when the traffic corps attempted
to remove the number plate of the car. The immigration
officers were said to have resisted the attempt.
One of the traffic corps members claimed that one of the
immigration officers pushed him while trying to remove
the number plate and he fell in the process.
But the immigration officers refuted the claim, saying the
TRACE men were the aggressors, who beat up the CSI,
and tore the uniform of the person who accompanied
him.
During the invasion of TRACE office, the Head of
Operations 2, Olalekan Adewale; a member of Parking
Management Agency, Tomiwa Khaleed, and two others
were injured.
Adewale said, “I was dragged on the floor, they kicked
and hit me with the butts of their guns. I feel pains all
over my body.”
The Public Relations Officer of TRACE, Babatunde
Akinbiyi, said the immigration officers attacked their
office and injured four of their men, while six others
were abducted in different areas of Abeokuta.
He said, “I got a call this morning that some of our men
were being abducted by some immigration officers.
“I learnt that one immigration official contravened
traffic rules in the Sapon area and as our men were
trying to remove his car’s number plate, he was pushed
and he fell.
“Presently, the driver of that car has been taken to court
for contravening and attacking of a uniformed officer on
duty.”
The Public Relations Officer of NIS, Ogun State
Command, Felix Kuti, said TRACE men triggered the
crisis by assaulting two of their officers.
He said, “Among uniformed men, there should be espirit
de corp. But when that is not being respected, there is
problem.
“TRACE officers assaulted two of our men this morning
and one of them is a Chief Superintendent of
Immigration.
“They tore his uniform and wounded him. They later
took him away and up till now, we have yet to see him.
“There is something called law of reciprocity. If I am
looking for my brother and I cannot locate him, and I
know you have taken him, it is possible that I may be
tempted to equally take yours.
“When you give me my own, I will give you your own.
But it is a family matter, we shall resolve it.”