Police seek DPP’s advice over Mile 12 mayhem

Ramon Oladimeji
A Lagos State Magistrate Court in Ikeja on Thursday adjourned till May 23 for further hearing in the case of the 117 suspects arrested by the police in connection with the mayhem that broke out at Mile 12 market in Lagos on March 3.
The adjournment followed the disclosure by the state prosecutor, Mr. Jide Martins, that the police had yet to send the case file to the state’s Directorate of Public Prosecutions for legal advice.
Martin urged the court presided over by Mrs. B.O. Osunsanmi to adjourn the matter to enable the police to do the needful.
The March 3 mayhem reportedly claimed no fewer than 16 lives while several houses were burnt.
The police had on March 4 and 5 taken the suspected perpetrators of the crime in batches before the court where they were charged with two counts.
In the said charges, the suspects were accused of committing felony by allegedly holding an unlawful assembly.
They were also accused of acting in a disorderly manner, leading to the disturbance of the public peace.
The accused however pleaded not guilty and were each admitted to a N200,000 bail with two sureties in like sum.
The sureties, the court said, must be blood relations of the accused who had verifiable addresses.
The magistrate said the sureties must also show evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government in the last three years.