By Matthew Denis
Two employees of the Kwara State Road Maintenance Agency (KWARTMA) were reportedly beaten to a pulp in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, yesterday, by officers of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), while on duty.
This medium gathered that the incident which occurred around 7.25pm caused rowdiness under the popular Post Office overhead bridge.
The affected KWARTMA staff are; Mr. David Kehinde Oyun and Mrs. Zainab Lawal who were said to be controlling traffic as at the time of the incident.
Findings revealed that while Oyun slumped after he was attacked by the NSCDC officers, Lawal was manhandled and slapped severally.
An eye witness told our reporter that the civil defence officers alleged that the KWARTMA employees disrespected one of their officers while carrying out their traffic responsibilities hence the need for reinforcement to call the former to ‘order’.
Speaking on the occurrence, the Chief Executive Officer of KWARTMA, Alh Yekeen Bello said, “I’m fully aware of the incident because I was called immediately by my officers and we have taken the victims to the hospital for treatment. They are receiving treatment now.
“We cannot rush to take any action yet, we need to gather details of what transpired between our men and NSCDC staff. I went to their Commandant to report the incident to him after carrying out on the spot assessment.
“We are going to take it up seriously because the NSCDC men felt they are armed therefore they can intimidate people anyhow. We know their officer must have violated traffic rule before my men stopped him or her.”
Bello further stated that the incident will be thoroughly investigated and recommendations made to the state government for next action.
On his part, the Public Relations Officer of NSCDC, Henry Bilisanmi simply said “I’m not aware of the situation. In fact I’m just hearing from you. I will do my findings and get back to you.” He however did not provide further information as at the time this paper went to bed, last night.
