Police chase, force student to jump off bridge in Lagos

In what appears to be an appalling case of assault by some police officials, a student identified as Oluwadara Adedayo was allegedly forced to jump off the bridge in Lagos

The 24-year-old 200-level Material Science Engineering student at the Kwara State University, was hospitalized after sustaining serious injuries while running away from the hot chase of armed policemen attached to the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Lagos State Police Command.

According to the victim he was in Lagos undergoing his Industrial training when he was accosted by some policeman at Cele bus stop as he was heading towards the Yaba area of the state last Monday. They searched his phone and also his modem and found nothing incriminating. Instead of letting him go, they ordered him into their vehicle. He resisted and ran away from them. While they were pursuing him, he jumped off a bridge and sustained serious injuries.

“They ordered me to enter the bus they brought and I refused. I demanded to know what I did to warrant me entering their bus but they did not say anything, only for them to bundle me inside the bus. I saw an opportunity to escape from the bus and I did. I jumped out of the bus because of my past experience with policemen. A few months ago, some policemen accosted me at Durba (Lagos) and accused me of being an Internet fraudster without any evidence against me. They took me to First Avenue, FESTAC Town, and collected the only N2,000 on me before I was released. I suffered before I got home that day.”

The victim explained that once he jumped down from the bus, he crossed to the other side of the road and ran to the Cele-Okota Bridge. One of the police officers armed with a gun, chased him on a motorcycle.

In his words;
When I stopped. The policeman quickly parked his motorcycle and pointed his gun at me, threatening to shoot me. Out of fear, I jumped off the bridge. “I was then rushed to the General Hospital, Isolo, from where I was transferred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi. I have not reported the incident in any police station because have just been discharged from the hospital”