Lagos resident beats up sergeant to evade arrest

Afeez Hanafi

A policeman attached to the Alagbado Police Division, Lagos State, Sergeant Muideen Ayinde, got more than he bargained for recently when a resident of the area, Henri Emordi, reportedly beat him up.

City Round learnt that Emordi had confronted one Sunday Aina who visited a friend on Awonusi Street at Alagbado in his car for allegedly trying to hit him.

In the ensuing altercation, Emordi reportedly threatened to kill Aina which prompted his wife, who was with him, to make a report at the police station.

Ayinde was said to have been assigned to follow Aina’s wife to the scene.

“On getting there, I approached Emordi and asked him what the problem was. I told him his attention was needed at the station.  He told me he was an Aye cult member and asked me to identify myself, and I did so.

“Surprisingly, he picked up an empty bottle and hit me in the face. He held on to my shirt and tore it. Many people came to beg him; he asked them to leave him. He said he wanted to deal with me. When I found out that I could not manage the situation, I called for reinforcement,” the policeman said.

But Emordi debunked the allegation that he was a cult member, claiming that Sunday had wanted to hit him with the car.

He was subsequently arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ogba on five counts of assault, engaging in unlawful society and damage.

A police prosecutor, Inspector Ben Emuerhi, told the court that the offences contravened sections 56, 172, 174, 339 and 368 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2015.

The charges read in part, “That you Henry Emordi on February 27, 2019, around 4.50pm at Awonusi Road Junction, Alagbado, Lagos, in the Ikeja Magisterial District, did unlawfully assault one Sergeant Muyideen Ayinde attached to the Alagbado Police Division by punching him in the face which caused him an injury because he was trying to arrest you and prevent you from fomenting trouble.

“That you, Henri Emordi, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, violently threatened one Sergeant Muyideen Ayinde by chasing him with a broken bottle.

“That you, Henry Emordi, did engage in an unlawful society knowing full well that the society has been proscribed by the law.”