The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) has suspended one of its officers, Alex Ikuburuju, for allegedly collecting a bribe of N30,000 from an offender on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane at Agric, Ikorodu.
Adebayo Taofiq, the task force’s, said in a statement Tuesday that the agency suspended the officer for extorting money from an arrested traffic offender.
“Investigations revealed that the officer, Mr. Ikuburuju Alex, truly negotiated and extorted the sum of N30,000 from the owner of an impounded vehicle who committed a traffic offence by plying the ‘BRT’ lane around Agric Bus-Stop in Ikorodu,” Mr Taofiq said.
While Mr Ikuburuju was suspended from the agency, the senior police officer who led the team that impounded the vehicle was moved to a different unit for lack of supervision, the statement added.
The Chairman of the Lagos State Task Force, Olayinka Egbeyemi, said the suspended officer confessed that he collected the bribe and that “the suspension became imperative following complaints against the officer on the social media and subsequent investigation of the accused staff.”
Mr Egbeyemi said the action of the officer was disgraceful and did not justify the training he received.
“The government recently trained all paramilitary officers attached to the agency on ‘Career Evaluation’ where they were taught how to be professionals and civil in dealing with members of the public.”
He said the Lagos task force would not tolerate indiscipline in any form and corrupt officers would be dismissed from the agency and urged members of the public to not hesitate in reporting any officer found misbehaving while discharging official duties.
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