Today,
if you ask an average trader in Lagos State who constitutes a greater nightmare
between the members of the Nigeria Police and the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI)
Brigade, he or she will definitely waste no time in pointing at the latter. And
the reason is not far-fetched. It is generally believed that the organization’s
existence has become a torn in the flesh of traders in Lagos State, given that
they now act in total violation of the Statutory Act setting them up.
Thirteen
years after the establishment of the KAI Brigade in Lagos State, the officers,
instead of maintaining law and order, are now law unto themselves.
Last
Saturday, a bloody clash between members of the Socialist Party of Nigeria
(SPN) and the KAI Brigade was averted by providence, when the KAI officials
allegedly attacked the SPN members at Oshodi while distributing leaflets, which
the Brigade considered offensive to the state.
It
was gathered that the leaflets were critical to the anti-poor policies of the
Action Congress of Nigeria( ACN) government in Lagos as well as the misrule of
other political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The
group said the attack on her members took place when they were distributing
leaflets, manifesto, constitution and Socialist Democracy, a bi-monthly
newspaper of the Party, and were interacting with people on the streets.
In
a petition dated June 28, 2013 and made available to Daily Newswatch, Chinedu Bosah, the Lagos State Protean Chairman,
said, “After an hour that we had set the stand, officials of the Kick Against
Indiscipline (KAI) became angry, having discovered that the materials we were
circulating was critical of the ACN and Lagos State government. They claimed we
were supposed to get permit from the Lagos State government before setting up a
stall and sharing the leaflets. But we countered them. They ordered us to leave
and threatened to disrupt our stall. Luckily, we had already started rounding
off the activities when they came. Otherwise, we would have called their bluff.
We, however, still challenged their authority to prevent circulation of
leaflets in Oshodi or elsewhere in Lagos.”
He further stated that the officials
of KAI, after leaving their stand, went on to start hurling loaves of bread
from under the table of a newspaper vendor.
This, according to him, was after
the KAI officers had pounced on a bread vendor and carried away her tray
containing loaves of bread.
“It was a sigh of pity for the poor
victims, though not a shocking scene to the people around. The KAI operatives
under the cover of enforcement of some obnoxious, anti-poor environmental law
harass traders and loot their wares on a daily basis,” he disclosed.
According
to the group, KAI officers seem to have abandoned their primary assignments and
have become thugs in the hands of some politicians
“In
between elections, KAI operatives harass poor traders and hawkers and
confiscate their wares, which are shared amongst themselves. It is a case of
the Lagos State government recruiting the poorest in the society and setting
them against other poor people.
“No
doubt, the activities of KAI have become more vicious, authoritarian and
criminal in the last six years. All kinds of crudity and absurdity are embedded
in KAI activities. They embark on forceful arrest and sometimes subject their
victims to crude and undemocratic trials. For instance, poor traders, hawkers
and beggars are usually arraigned before a mobile court for trial without fair
trial and are instantly sentenced to prison or are fined,” the petition further
stated.
SPN
decried the activities of KAI, which takes place every day on the streets of
Lagos State, as they arrest and put people on trial under kangaroo court
system.
The
group said people are usually never given opportunities to defend themselves or
prepare their defense before they are summarily sentenced.
“This
shows how crude, undemocratic and anti-poor the Fashola-led ACN government is,
despite its pretences, tokenism and grandstanding.
“These
KAI operatives don’t restrict their activities to stealing and hooliganism;
they also kill. As reported in the PM newspaper of January 20, 2012, two KAI
officials (Taiwo Fashola, 52 and Musiliu Ismaila, 45) and others were alleged
to have killed one 24-year-old Okaja Ahamefula, a street trader, on 28 August,
2011,” the petition also revealed.
The
SPN, in their petition, called for urgent end to the harassment, attacks,
undemocratic and crude arraignment of innocent poor people of Lagos State
before what it called a “black market court”.
“We
are equally also demanding the scrapping of KAI operation in Lagos,” Bosah
quipped.
Investigation
showed that the Brigade before now had been orderly under Mr. Kehinde Oyenuga,
a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, who was appointed as the first
Marshal General of the Brigade.
When his appointment was terminated
in 2004, he was succeeded by Navy Commando Femi Lawson and Captain Danjuma
Maigeri( rtd.) was appointed as the deputy, KAI Marshal General, to Lawson
during the period.
Lawson left office as the KAI Marshal General
in 2005 and his then deputy, Maigeri, was appointed the KAI Marshal General to
succeed him.
Daily Newswatch
gathered that the Brigade was later disbanded by the then governor of Lagos
State, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in October 2004 and the
current KAI Brigade was re-lunched on August 1, 2005 by the same governor.
Maigeri was appointed as the KAI Marshal
General (KMG).
There are grievous allegations
against KAI Brigade, the law enforcement unit of the Lagos State Ministry of
the Environment. The group has been accused of auctioning of items allegedly
confiscated from traders operating illegally in parts of the state.
The auction, which normally
holds at the Headquarters of the Brigade, is being allegedly handled by
licensed auctioneers and attended by a large number of members of the public
who were interested in buying the items. But it was learnt that some of the
items are usually bought by the officials.
According to the
officials, the exercise is in compliance with the directive of the governor of
the state, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, through the Commissioner of the
Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, that all the goods confiscated by the KAI
Magistrate court be auctioned six months after judgment had been delivered.
Most of the confiscated items
usually auctioned are electronics such as standing fans, pressing irons, CD
players, TV sets, clothes, shoes, phones, carpets and generating sets, amongst
others.
KAI Brigade has, in the past years,
demolished and sacked illegal street traders and hawkers at Obalende, Ikoyi,
Victoria Island and Lekki areas of Lagos.
Over 5000 traders have been arrested
by the Brigade since its inception in 2003 while the Brigade has also carried
out actions at Obalende; Awolowo Road; Falomo under Bridge and on top of the
Bridge; Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi; Ahmadu Bello Road; Ozumba Mbadiwe;
Akin-Adesola; Adeola Odeku and Adetokunbo Ademola, all in Victoria Island. Even
so, virtually all the mainland areas have fallen under the shooting pains of
KAI.
The arrested traders have been
charged to the mobile magistrate court. While some Lagos residents expressed
appreciation to KAI for sanitizing some areas, many equally saw the
organization as machinery of under-development.
It was established on November 3, 2003 by the
then governor of the State Asiwaju Bola Hamed Tinubu.
The Brigade was established to
enforce effect change of attitude and promote clean and hygienic culture among
the people of Lagos State; oversee the environmental sanitation law of Lagos
State.
Among their responsibilities was to
ensure that the state is kept clean by eliminating indiscriminate dumping of
refuse in unauthorized places and eliminating all forms of street- trading and
hawking.
Also, they were to see that vegetal
nuisances and overgrown weeds around premises were weeded out; stop open
defecation and urination in public places and kick against illegal buildings or
structures on drainage alignments, road setbacks and verges, among other forms
of environmental hazards.
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