Categories: Metro

Man Allegedly Attacks LAWMA Worker With Hammer In Isolo

LAWMA worker hospitalised after being hit with a hammer by an unknown person
Suspect captured, transferred to Zone D Divison, Lagos for further investigation

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that a service provider with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, has reportedly been hospitalised after being hit with a hammer by an unknown person.

The incident occurred on Tuesday morning while the service provider was performing his official duty on Isolo Road, adjacent to Mushin Local Government Office, behind Zone D Police Station in Mushin, Lagos.

According to eyewitnesses, he was operating under the auspices of Private Sector Participation, PSP, when he was hit on the head.

Mr Lasisi Lukman, a resident who witnessed the incident, stated that the service provider was with his colleagues to render their services by collecting the refuse of those who had previously paid for the service when a resident engaged one of them in a fight for failing to collect his refuse.

According to him, the service providers in a bid to resolve the matter asked the man to show evidence of payment which he failed and they insist that his refusal will not be collected.

He said the man angrily went inside his room, came out and the next was to hit one of the operators with a hammer.

We thought he wanted to bring money but it was a hammer which he hit the PSP operator with. Immediately, blood started gushing out of the victim’s nostrils and mouth.

“His colleagues and residents rallied around and rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was referred to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), for brain diagnosis.

The suspect was later captured by sympathisers, but his friends wanted to rescue him in style. This was resisted, and he was transferred to Zone D Division for further investigation.

When contacted, the National Spokesperson, Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, Olugbenga Adebola, said he was not aware of the incident but promised to find out.

“This is very unfortunate, though I am just hearing this from you. It will be most unfortunate for anybody to hit an essential service provider who comes to your premises to evacuate your waste to prevent the outbreak of diseases and epidemics to be so treated. A PSP Operator in any part of Lagos is a representative of the government legally backed up and empowered to collect waste from the tenements in the state and transport the same to a government-approved disposal site.

“Anyone that fights or hits such an organisation or its agents is directly or indirectly hitting or fighting the government. The laws of the state will always take their course.

“Meanwhile, I want to use this opportunity to admonish PSP Operators to report such condemnable acts to the nearest Police Station, the LGAs/LCDAs or to the Taskforce on Environment and Special Offences or the LAGESC aka KAI offices.

“This is the reason the Association in conjunction with LAWMA organised a one day Stakeholders Engagement on enhancing the enforcement of all Environmental laws of Lagos recently.

FURTHER READING:

Equally, the Lagos state government through the Chief Judge of the State approved and inaugurated 24 Magisterial Courts and designated them for the trial of all Environmental infractions in the state.”

The Spokesperson, Lagos State Police Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin is yet to confirm the incident as he promised to get back to the press.

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Quadri Abdulsamod