Lagos State
governor, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, has advised law enforcement agents to
always guide against the temptation to take laws into their hands and damage
public property as this act will only set the society back.
The governor,
who spoke with newsmen in Lagos after a meeting of the State Executive Council,
added that he had been in touch with the Brigade Commander who had assured him
that he was managing and controlling the situation.
According to
him, if buses that citizens are saying are not enough are being set ablaze, he
said he didn’t understand how destroying buses could recompense any injury in
any event that anyone might have suffered, saying, “I don’t know how
damaging public property is restitution for any injury that may have come”.
The governor,
who said the event occurred while he was on his way back from Abuja, gave a
commitment that when he got the full facts, he would address the media and let
them know what happened and what the state would do about it.
“There is
allegation that somebody who was not supposed to be on the BRT route was there
and as far as I know if something happens to you while you are conducting an
unlawful act, it is a criminal offence in its own sense.
“It’s really
disappointing to put it mildly that public servants, and that is what soldiers
are, paid with tax payers money will act in a manner that is being suggested
here, and I say being suggested because I am waiting for official report to let
me know who really played what role, what happened, whether or not even the
Brigade Commander has been able to identify the people who were involved,” he
explained.
“I remember
it was in 2005 or 2006 that soldiers went on rampage in Barracks area of
Surulere and set ablaze the Area C Police Command and we just managed to finish
completion and equipping that building”, he stated.
The Governor
was joined at the briefing by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr
Lateef Ibirogba, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Raji
and his counterpart on Media, Mr Hakeem Bello.