Six Injured As Unknown Soldiers Attack Legion Base In Lagos

Manoah KikekonFebruary 18, 20242 Mins read1.3k

Unknown soldiers suspected to have come from 174 Battalion in Odogunyan, Ikorodu, Barracks in Lagos State, have attacked the Nigerian Legion Base Unit 37 in Odongunyan, Ikorodu, Lagos State.

The attack occurred at 9:30 p.m. on Friday, February 16th, wherm about 15 unknown soldiers attacked the Legion base with various weapons, leaving six people injured who are now being treated at Ikorodu General Hospital.

Assistant Sector Commander Unit 37, Nigerian Legion Odongunyan, Provost Officer Yusuf Aliyu, said, “I see what the army is doing as an exercise of power over our men. This whole issue started at 12:00 a.m. on February 14, when the Legion officers on duty left their duty posts to get food. On their way, they saw someone impersonating the Nigerian Legion in an attempt to check and question him. An self-acclaimed military man who was not in uniform stopped them, and when they were about to leave the scene, the acclaimed soldier pursued the Legion officers with a Jark knife. In the process, one Legion officer was stabbed in the right arm.

“While they took a motorcycle to escape, the same person took a Peugeot car and chased them. In the process, the two Legion officers had a serious accident. We treated our officers that night. As the provost, I told my officers not to take laws into their own hands because they were angry, and I appointed another officer to take them to the military police in the barracks to make an official report. The military police said the person can’t be a soldier, that soldiers don’t behave like that, and that Legion should arrest the acclaimed soldier wherever they see him and bring him to the military barracks.

“On Thursday, the Legion officers went for the arrest. In an attempt to arrest the acclaimed Legion officer and the soldier, more military men came out, beat, stabbed, and took the Legion officers to the military barracks. After that, they came to our base this night to destroy vehicles and properties, beat, and injure our officers and residents, leaving behind the weapons they brought after the Legion officers reinforced against them in an attempt to burn down the Legion commander’s house,” he said.

Mr. Tolulope Alabi, a resident and eyewitness speaking at the scene, said, “The community has been guarded by the Nigerian Legion for many years, and close to it we have 174 Battalion. This evening I was outside to get what I would eat, I saw men in army uniforms around 9:30 p.m. from my calculations, they were 9 in number, but I’m sure they are more. They damaged vehicles, beat residents, and Legion officers, They came with cutlasses and axes.”

He added that the community that was supposed to be jointly protected by the army and the Legion, and he urged both security organisations to settle the dispute amicably.