The Commissioner of Police, Nigeria Railway Command, Oyediran Oyeyemi, has allegedly threatened to eject three policemen from the Jebba barracks in the Ebute Meta area of Lagos State.
It was gathered that Oyeyemi had on March 11, 2021, issued a notice to quit to Inspectors Jodan Matthew, Omaha Emmanuel and Odogwu Matthew attached to Lagos State Police Command requesting them to vacate the barracks on or before March 31, 2021.
Upon the receipt of the notice, our correspondent learnt that the policemen wrote a petition to the Force Headquarters to intervene in the matter.
The policemen, in the petition obtained by our correspondent, alleged that they were served the notice to quit without knowing what their offences were.
The petition read in part, “We have been law-abiding officers adhering to barracks rules and regulations. All of a sudden, we saw a quit notice on our rooms that we should vacate the quarters in two weeks.
“We don’t know the offence that we committed that warrants the quit notice. We are family men; if eventually they eject us from the barracks, where are we going to put our heads and families? This will also affect our well-being and productivity in the service.
“We are appealing to the authority to please come to our aid as a matter of urgency to intervene in this matter before the situation gets out of hand.”
PUNCH Metro learnt that upon the petition of the officers, a signal was sent from the Force Headquarters directing the Commissioner of Police to suspend action on the notice.
The signal read in part, “Force Provost Marshal, Force Headquarters, Abuja, directs you suspend action in respect of an appeal against quit notice submitted to this office by Inspector Odogwu Matthew, Inspector Onoja Samuel and Inspector Jodan Matthew, quartered at the Jebba Railway Police Barracks, Ebute Meta, Lagos State.”
However, it was gathered that Oyeyemi allegedly disregarded the signal from the Force Headquarters and ordered the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Adebisi Lawal, to issue a final notice to quit to the affected policemen.
The CP, in the final notice to quit dated April 16, 2021, which was obtained by our correspondent, said the policemen would be forcefully evicted from the barracks.
The notice read in part, “It has become increasingly clear that you are grossly undisciplined and you lack respect for constituted authority.
“On March 11, 2021, you were served with the quit notice to vacate the barracks on or before March 31, 2021. However, instead of you honouring the Commissioner of Police’s directive, you kept the barracks space under lock and key, and made yourselves unreachable.
“You are hereby notified finally that if you fail to peacefully vacate, you will be forcefully evicted on April 17, 2021 without fail.”
Investigations by PUNCH Metro revealed that the personnel occupying the barracks pay between N180,000 and N250,000 as accommodation fees of the number of years they spend at the barracks before the CP allegedly increased the sum to between N350,000 and N400,000.
When contacted on the telephone, Oyeyemi refused to comment on the matter and maintained that it was an internal matter.
He said, “When does police internal matter turn to newspaper affairs? Can’t we discipline our men again? What’s the newspaper’s problem about a signal sent from Abuja? It’s not your issue, it is part of an internal matter; what is your own about not obeying an internal signal from Abuja? What is the newspaper’s own there? Are they the ones to dictate to the police what they should do?”
