Officers of the Nigeria Police Force, allegedly attacked men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, at Ikorodu Lagos.
The civil defence officers were returning from a site of arrest of some pipeline vandals when the police officers opened fire on them, according to witnesses.
Witnesses put the time of the incident at between midnight and 3 a.m.
Two officers, identified as Gabriel Adaji and Innocent Akegbe, were killed while five others received severe gunshot wounds, according to a source at the NSCDC.
A witness said that the arrested vandals contacted some police officers who ambushed the Civil Defence officers and their prisoners.
“Immediately the police got wind of the information, they laid siege for the Corps and open fire on the NSCDC patrol vehicles killing two while others scampered for their dear lives with gunshot wounds as the vandals were released immediately by the police,” the witness said.
A source at the NSCDC corroborated the account, adding that an argument had ensued between the returning NSCDC officers and the team of police officers at a checkpoint along the Ikorodu expressway.
“One of the policemen said we (NSCDC) had no right to operate in the area,” the source said.
“The NSCDC men explained that it was their duty to protect all government facilities including oil pipelines.”
After the argument, the civil defence officers left the police checkpoint only to encounter a hail of bullets from another team of police officers, the NSCDC source added.
“The policemen opened fire on our men, killing two and injuring five. The policemen then fled.”
