Pandemonium in Lagos as police, NSCDC engage in shootout

There was pandemonium in Alausa, the seat of the Lagos State Government, as officers and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and those of the Nigeria Police engaged in sporadic shooting on Wednesday afternoon.
The gun duel followed the killing of two officers of the NSCDC by policemen in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Eyewitnesses said two officers of the NSCDC, in what was seen as a reprisal, attacked two policemen close to their office in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos State.
They reportedly beat the policemen to a stupor.
Policemen, who were close to the scene, alerted their colleagues of the development.
The policemen also quickly mobilized and headed for the scene, with the shootout as the outcome.
The shootout was said to have lasted for several minutes, with passersby scrambling for safety.
The two policemen who were initially attacked were taken hostage by the NSCDC officials.
A peace meeting, led by the Divisional Police Officer, Alausa, was in progress as at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, the NSCDC has identified their colleagues killed by the policemen in the wee hours of Wednesday as Assistant Inspector Gabriel Adaji and Inspector Innocent Akegbe.
Their corpses have been deposited at the Military Hospital Mortuary, Yaba, Lagos.
Spokesperson of the NSCDC in Lagos State, Kehinde Dada, confirmed the development.
Dada said the attack by the police team was sudden and did not give the civil defence officers the chance to defend themselves.
The Deputy Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC, Shola Odumosu, said two of their men were killed and five others seriously injured.
Odumosu said the four suspected pipeline vandals arrested by the NSCDC were released by the police, who escaped with them.
He said: “While the police were escaping with the suspects, a police identity card of one Inspector Sunday Gabriel, with Force No. 1206ZZ, attached to Pipeline Vandals Task Force and his service pistol fell down.
“We have these exhibits with us.
“The Police Anti-Pipeline Vandals Task Force cannot claim they don’t know Civil Defence uniform and patrol van.
“The attack is an indication of hatred against the Corps for winning the war against vandals.
“It is only uniform men conniving with vandals to sabotage the Nigeria economy that would deliberately open fire on our men so that their evil trade will continue.”