A member of the House of Representatives, Shina Peller, has been arrested by the police in Lagos for allegedly invading a police station along with some persons said to be thugs.
The legislators, according to the police, was arrested when, along with others, he invaded Maroko Police Station to forcefully remove vehicles earlier seized for obstructing traffic from the location of his club, Quilox.
In a statement issued by the spokesman of the Lagos Police Command, DSP Bala Elkana, the Lagos Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, had directed that the case should be moved to State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, and the suspects charged to court.
The spokesman explained that the vehicles moved to the police station were those around the location of Quilox Club owned by the legislator, Peller.
He said the customers had persistently obstructed traffic despite the promise by Peller to prevent such.
According to him, when eventually the vehicles were moved to the station, Peller and others said to be up over 50 moved to the station to remove the vehicles forcefully.
The police at the station were said to have called for reinforcement and the eventual arrest of Peller and others.
The statement by the police reads:
On 22/12/2019 at about 9 a.m., police officers on traffic control along Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, sent a traffic report to Maroko Police Station that the entire road leading to the toll gate was blocked as a result of indiscriminate parking on the major road by customers of Quilox Club, 183 Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The club owner, Hon. Shina Peller, a House of Representatives member, representing Iseyin Federal Constituency, Oyo State was approached by the D.P.O. Maroko on the need to ensure that customers to his club did not block the major road to mitigate the undue hardship the obstruction was causing to other road users.
Police eventually cleared the traffic and the honourable member promised to keep the road free of traffic.
On 23rd December, 2019 at about 8.30 a.m., traffic was observed to have built up on the road again. Police traced the cause to the club again.
The club activities mostly last up to 9 a.m. from night and affecting the free flow of traffic in the area.
The situation was so bad that commuters had to resort to trekking.
Police team from Maroko Division led by the Divisional Police Officer, mobilised to the street and after much efforts, got the traffic flowing again.
Three vehicles parked on the major highway by some customers of the club, which actually caused the obstruction, were removed to the station.
The club owner mobilised over 50 thugs around 11 a.m. and invaded the Police Station to forcibly move the vehicles away.
The police officers on duty at the station sent a distress message to the headquarters calling for reinforcement.
Police teams from neighbouring Divisions and Area J Command, led by the Area Commander were deployed to reinforce the station.
The honourable member and five thugs were arrested while others scaled the fence and escaped.
The Commissioner of Police Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu psc, has ordered the immediate transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, for in depth investigation.
The suspects will be charged to court.
Owners of club houses in Lagos State are warned to provide parking spaces for their customers within their premises to stop indiscriminate parking on the road.
The good people of Lagos State have the right to enjoy free flow of traffic which informed the decision of the Command to declare a state of emergency in traffic.
The slogan remains ‘Traffic must flow’ in Lagos State.
