There was pandemonium in Abeokuta on Tuesday after about 26 armed officers and men of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Ogun State Command, invaded the Abeokuta zonal command headquarters of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps in the Ibara area of the state.
The immigration men were said to have battered four TRACE officers, while about six other personnel of the traffic agency were allegedly abducted by the NIS operatives in different parts of the city.
Our correspondent gathered that the NIS operatives’ invasion was a reprisal, as an unnamed immigration officer was allegedly assaulted earlier in the day.
Eight TRACE men were said to have beaten up a Chief Superintendent of Immigration in the Sapon area of the state, who was alleged to have parked his car at an unathorised section of the road.
Our correspondent gathered there was an altercation between the traffic corps members and the immigration officer, who was in company with one of his colleagues, over what was considered a breach of traffic rules.
Tempers allegedly rose when the traffic corps attempted to remove the number plate of the car. The immigration officers were said to have resisted the attempt.
One of the traffic corps members claimed that one of the immigration officers pushed him while trying to remove the number plate and he fell in the process.
But the immigration officers refuted the claim, saying the TRACE men were the aggressors, who beat up the CSI, and tore the uniform of the person who accompanied him.
During the invasion of TRACE office, the Head of Operations 2, Olalekan Adewale; a member of Parking Management Agency, Tomiwa Khaleed, and two others were injured.
Adewale said, “I was dragged on the floor, they kicked and hit me with the butts of their guns. I feel pains all over my body.”
The Public Relations Officer of TRACE, Babatunde Akinbiyi, said the immigration officers attacked their office and injured four of their men, while six others were abducted in different areas of Abeokuta.
He said, “I got a call this morning that some of our men were being abducted by some immigration officers.
“I learnt that one immigration official contravened traffic rules in the Sapon area and as our men were trying to remove his car’s number plate, he was pushed and he fell.
“Presently, the driver of that car has been taken to court for contravening and attacking of a uniformed officer on duty.”
The Public Relations Officer of NIS, Ogun State Command, Felix Kuti, said TRACE men triggered the crisis by assaulting two of their officers.
He said, “Among uniformed men, there should be espirit de corp. But when that is not being respected, there is problem.
“TRACE officers assaulted two of our men this morning and one of them is a Chief Superintendent of Immigration.
“They tore his uniform and wounded him. They later took him away and up till now, we have yet to see him.
“There is something called law of reciprocity. If I am looking for my brother and I cannot locate him, and I know you have taken him, it is possible that I may be tempted to equally take yours.
“When you give me my own, I will give you your own. But it is a family matter, we shall resolve it.”
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