OPEN DEFECATION: MAN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGED ATTACK ON LAGOS OFFICIAL

A yet-to-be-identified suspect has been apprehended for allegedly assaulting a civilian staff member of the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources while on duty at Berger along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

It was learnt that the incident happened in the early hours of Tuesday.

The suspect was defecating around the median on the expressway when the officials stationed close to the Berger bridge swooped in on him.

In an attempt to resist arrest, the suspect attacked one of the officials and injured him in the process.

A source privy to the incident who pleaded anonymity said, “He was caught just like others but resisted arrest and decided to fight with them. He hit one of the civilian officials with an object on the head which caused him to start bleeding.”

The suspect was said to have been overpowered by other officials who later locked him up in their van.

The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, confirmed the incident on his X.com handle on Tuesday. He noted that the suspect had been remanded in prison but would be charged in court.

“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 October 29, 2024,” he wrote.

In August, the Lagos State Government vowed to begin prosecution of individuals who engaged 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 counterpart.

Meanwhile, over 40 offenders have since been arrested by officials of the environmental task force.