The National Association of Nigerian Students on Monday raised the alarm over what they described as the “nefarious and atrocious” activities of members of Dragon Squad, a police unit that has been terrorising residents of Ogun State, particularly students.
According to a statement signed by the National President of NANS, Ladoja Olushola, on Monday, in Abuja, the squad claimed to be established by the Office of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos State, has continued to harass and intimidate residents and students of Abeokuta, on the pretext of going after “Yahoo Boys”.
Olushola added that the squad, being led by one DSP has its office in the Laderin Estate in the state capital, where several innocent people were being detained.
He said that the DSP, who was part of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (
and Zonal Intervention Squad located in Obada-Oko Area of the state, has continued to lead his team to terrorise, extort, detain and raid the homes of residents illegally.
The NANS National President further stated that the squad, apart from arresting and detaining Ogun residents who are mainly youths and students, has been acting as security backing to suspected land grabbers who invaded part of Ita Oshin and Oke Ata communities in Abeokuta, to unleash mayhem and wreak havoc.
He noted that despite several complaints made by the residents to the office of the Commissioner of Police in Ogun State, the “heinous activities of the Dragon Squad have continued unchecked”, calling on the Inspector General of Police to urgently intervene and rein in the terrors of the DSP and his team.
Olushola disclosed that the senior police officer claimed that his squad was sent by the AIG in charge of the Zone 2, Onikan to Ogun, hence, the Commissioner of Police in the state cannot interfere with his operations.
He maintained that the excesses of the police squad have spread fear in the hearts of Ogun residents, particularly students and their parents who had either been detained or forced to cough up an exorbitant sum of money.
Olushola observed that the Gestapo style of operations of the squad, is gradually bringing back the inglorious era of SARS’s brutality and inhumane treatment meted out to the people.
While reiterating NANS’s call to the IGP to order the AIG in charge of Zone 2 in Lagos, to disband the Dragon Squad in Ogun, Olushola declared that the student body will mobilize students and stage a massive protest against the “nefarious and illicit activities” of the squad.
He further expressed dismay that that a police officer whose notorious and obnoxious activities in Ogun State largely contributed to the disbandment of the defunct SARS and ZIS, could be assigned by the AIG to surreptitiously revive SARS modus operandi in the state.
The statement reads further: “NANS has viewed with dismay and unpleasantness, the nefarious and atrocious activities of members of a police unit, dubbed Dragon Squad in Ogun State. The squad being led by one DSP Akeem Adeyemi, has not only been terrorizing residents of Abeokuta, especially students, who have fallen victim, but it has also become a ready-made tool of oppression in the hands of land grabbers in the state.
“The office in Laderin Estate in Abeokuta has a holding cell where innocent people are being detained for up to a month without being charged to court. No victim has come out of the detention without tales of horror, extortion and intimidation. On the pretext of going after Yahoo Boys, several students have been arrested, detained and extorted. Their parents are not spared.
“These policemen have turned Ogun, Abeokuta specifically, to their workshop. They carry out dirty jobs and extort the youths and students. In fact, NANS was reliably informed that a sum of N1.5m was collected from a male victim last week.
“While NANS will not condone or support crimes in any guise, even from our members, the student will stand against and resist any violation of rights of our members, harassment and intimidation from any security agency, particularly the ones that engage in activities not backed by the Nigerian Constitution”.
“We, however, call on the Inspector General of Police not to allow DSP Adeyemi and his cohorts in the Dragon Squad, constituting himself into a terror and above-the-law personality, in the state of origin of the IGP. The AIG in charge of the Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, whom Adeyemi claimed birthed Dragon Squad, should also be called to order.
“To this end, NANS will mobilize massively and storm the office of AIG, Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos State, on Wednesday, to protest the nefarious, obnoxious and notorious activities of the police Dragon Squad in Ogun State
“By next week Monday, NANS will mobilize and march in protest to the office of the Inspector General of Police in Abuja; the National Assembly and the Office of the Secretary of Government of the Federation (SGF) and the Police Service Commission office, in order to call their attention to the aberration and siege on the innocent people of Ogun, courtesy DSP Adeyemi and his team.”
