A suspect, yet to be identified, has been captured for reportedly assaulting a civilian staff member of the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources while on duty at Berger along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday.
The suspect was relieving himself around the median on the expressway when the officials stationed near the Berger bridge descended on him.
In a bid to evade arrest, the suspect attacked one of the officials and caused injury in the process.
A source privy to the incident who pleaded anonymity said, “He was caught just like others but resisted arrest and decided to fight with them. He hit one of the civilian officials with an object on the head which caused him to start bleeding.”
Other officials reportedly subdued the suspect and subsequently locked him up in their van.
The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, verified the occurrence on his X.com platform on Tuesday. He indicated that the suspect had been detained in prison but would face charges in court.
“One individual was arrested at Berger for injuring one of the civilians employed by the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources while on duty at Berger. He has been remanded in prison custody and will appear again in court on October 29, 2024,” he wrote.
The Lagos State Government promised to start prosecuting people who were involved in open defecation, especially around the Berger area of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in August.
This came after a combined effort to clean up the human waste on the median of the expressway by sanitation workers in a collaboration between the state government and its Ogun counterpart.
In the meantime, more than 40 violators have been apprehended by the environmental task force officials.
