The squad, which was allegedly formed by the Office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos State, has persisted in harassing and intimidating residents and students of Abeokuta under the guise of pursuing “Yahoo Boys,” according to a statement signed by Ladoja Olushola, National President of NANS, on Monday in Abuja.
Olushola went on to say that the squad, which is headed by a DSP, has its headquarters in the state capital’s Laderin Estate, where a number of innocent individuals are being held.
He said that the DSP, who was a member of the state’s Obada-Oko Area’s now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad and Zonal Intervention Squad, had persisted in leading his group in unlawfully terrorizing, extorting, detaining, and raiding citizens’ houses.
The NANS National President went on to say that in addition to apprehending and holding Ogun residents, who are primarily young people and students, the squad has been providing security support to suspected land grabbers who broke into parts of the Ita Oshin and Oke Ata communities in Abeokuta in order to cause chaos and destruction.
He called on the Inspector General of Police to step in immediately and put an end to the DSP and his team’s terrors, pointing out that the “heinous activities of the Dragon Squad have continued unchecked” in spite of numerous complaints from the locals to the office of the Commissioner of Police in Ogun State.
Olushola revealed that the senior police officer asserted that the state’s commissioner of police could not impede his operations because his squad was dispatched to Ogun by the AIG in command of Zone 2, Onikan.
He insisted that the police squad’s excesses had instilled terror in the hearts of Ogun residents, especially among students and their parents who had either been arrested or made to pay a hefty price.
Olushola noted that the squad’s Gestapo-style actions are progressively reviving the shameful period of SARS’s cruelty and inhumane treatment of its victims.
Olushola stated that the student body will organize and hold a large-scale demonstration against the “nefarious and illicit activities” of the Dragon Squad in Ogun, while restating NANS’s request to the IGP to direct the AIG in charge of Zone 2 in Lagos to disband the squad.
He also expressed shock that the AIG would appoint a police officer whose infamous and offensive actions in Ogun State played a major role in the dissolution of the now-defunct SARS and ZIS to covertly restore SARS’s methods of operation in the state.
The statement goes on to say, “NANS has viewed with dismay and unpleasantness the nefarious and atrocious activities of members of a police unit in Ogun State known as Dragon Squad.” Under the leadership of DSP Akeem Adeyemi, the squad has not only been intimidating Abeokuta people, particularly students who have been harmed, but it has also turned into a ready-made instrument of tyranny in the hands of the state’s land grabbers.
There is a holding cell at the office in Laderin Estate in Abeokuta where innocent persons are held for up to a month without facing charges. No victim has left the confinement without telling stories of intimidation, extortion, and misery. This has led to the arrest, detention, and extortion of multiple students under the guise of targeting Yahoo Boys. Not even their parents are exempt.
Ogun, and more especially Abeokuta, has been thrown over to these police officers’ workshop. They extort students and young people and perform nasty work. Indeed, NANS received trustworthy information that a male victim had N1.5 million taken from him last week.
“The student will stand against and resist any violation of our members’ rights, harassment, and intimidation from any security agency, especially those that engage in activities not backed by the Nigerian Constitution, even though NANS will not condone or support crimes in any guise, even from our members.”
However, we urge the Inspector General of Police to prevent DSP Adeyemi and his Dragon Squad colleagues from entering the IGP’s home state since they have turned into a terror group and above-the-law personalities. It is also necessary to summon the AIG in command of Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, where Adeyemi said Dragon Squad was founded.
In order to protest the evil, offensive, and well-known actions of the police Dragon Squad in Ogun State, NANS will organize a large crowd and assault the office of the AIG, Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos State, on Wednesday.
“To draw their attention to the aberration and siege on the innocent people of Ogun, courtesy of DSP Adeyemi and his team, NANS will organize and march in protest to the office of the Inspector General of Police in Abuja, the National Assembly, the Office of the Secretary of Government of the Federation (SGF), and the Police Service Commission office by Monday of next week.”
