Tension is still high at the Orile-Iganmu police station in Lagos today, a week after an attempt to burn it down was repelled with sustained shooting by policemen.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and two pick-up vans, all manned by armed anti-riot policemen, have remained at the gate of the station since Oct. 25.
An investigation by NAN revealed that policemen at the station had allegedly tortured a suspected thief, who later died in a private hospital in the area.
Annoyed at what they saw as police extra-judicial killing, friends of the deceased, aided by hundreds of jobless youths, took his corpse to the station in protest and attempted to set it on fire.
"There was some shooting here that day (Oct. 25) but the shots were only meant to scare the protesting youths", an eyewitness told NAN, adding, "nobody was killed during the shooting".
The witness, who craved for anonymity, explained that when the officers and men at the police station were overwhelmed by the huge number of the unarmed youths, they radioed for reinforcement.
"That was how the APC, the patrol vans and the mobile policemen got to Orile and have since remained on alert because the youths are still bent on avenging the death of their friend.
Attempts to confirm the incident from the police at Orile proved abortive, as neither the DPO nor Divisional Crime Officer was found on duty.
However, the spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Mr Olabode Ojajuni, said the deceased died of gun shot wounds he received while escaping from arrest.
He denied that he was tortured.