A yet-to-be-identified man has been apprehended for allegedly assaulting an employee of the Lagos State Environment and Water Resources while on duty at Berger along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the incident happened in the early hours of Tuesday.
The suspect was said to be defecating on the median along the expressway when the employee, led by officials of the Lagos State Environmental and Sanitation Corps swooped in on him.
In an attempt to resist arrest, the suspect attacked the victim and injured him in the process.
A source privy to the incident in a chat with our correspondent said, “He was caught just like others but resisted arrest and decided to fight them. He hit one of the officials with an object on the head which caused him to bleed.”
He said the suspect was overpowered by the officials who later locked him up in their van.
The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, confirmed the incident on his X handle on Tuesday, noting that the suspect had been charged to court and remanded in prison.
“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 29th of October 2024,” he wrote.
In August, the Lagos State Government vowed to commence the prosecution of individuals who engage in open defecation, particularly along the Berger area of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
This followed a joint clean-up of the faeces littering the expressway’s median by sanitation operatives in a partnership initiated by the state government and its Ogun State counterpart.
Meanwhile, over 40 offenders have since been arrested by officials of the task force.
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