The Special Offences Court in Bolade-Oshodi, Lagos State, on Tuesday sentenced three hoodlums to jail for their involvement in the stabbing of an official of the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) and for obstructing officers from carrying out their lawful duties. 

LAGESC, in a statement on X, said its Corps Marshal, Olaniyi Olatunbosun Cole, disclosed this to journalists at the command headquarters in Bolade-Oshodi. 

Mr Cole said the agency was dislodging illegal traders, causing vehicular gridlock and obstructing pedestrians on Olowu Street, and also removing a container blocking the right of way, when one of the hoodlums stabbed an official on the wrist with a knife. 

The agency, in the statement said, “Following incessant public outcry and expiation of served abatement notices to activate voluntary compliance, the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) popularly known as KAI conducted a clearance operation to dislodge illegal traders constituting vehicular, pedestrian and criminal infractions at No 38, Olowu Street, Ipodo area of the metropolis, resulting in the arrest and subsequent prosecution of a criminal trio for aggravated assault on an operative of the agency on Tuesday.”

Narrating the incident, Mr Cole said, “We received intelligence reports and eye-witness accounts about the activities of street traders on that Olowu Street axis causing heavy gridlock for vehicular and pedestrian movement whilst a container obstructing the right of way was removed and in this process, hoodlums attacked one of our operatives by slashing his wrist with a knife in a singular case of aggravated assault but for prompt medical attention, the situation would have escalated.”

According to the Corps Marshall, the suspects include: 25-year-old Farouk Olori; 27-year-old Ogundare Oluwatobiloba; and 20-year-old Taoreed Alimi, who were arraigned on a three-count charge bordering on breach of peace, obstruction of lawful duty and unlawful assault, which are contrary to Sections 168(1) (d), (2), Sections 117 (1) (2) and Section 173 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015.

He also said, “In the judgment, the presiding magistrate sentenced the 1st and 3rd defendants to a week in jail with the option of community service while the 2nd defendant, who was identified by the court based on available evidence as the assailant, bagged a sentence of one year in jail.”

Hailing the judgment, Mr Cole warned residents to desist from taking the law into their own hands, and enjoined environmental defaulters to comply with the lenient provisions of voluntary compliance in place of operations. 

He also warned street traders in the habit of displaying wares for sale on road setbacks, lay-bys, medians, verges, and kerbs against engaging in environmentally detrimental practices, maintaining that open urination and defecation remain banned in the state, as defaulters will be made to face the law.