Four persons in court for impersonating Lagos environmental officials

By Dada Jackson

A Lagos State magistrate Lateef Layeni sitting at the Special Offences (Mobile) Court has remanded four men in prison custody for impersonating environmental officials and extorting money from unsuspecting members of the public.

The four men, Afolayan Nurudeen (41), Fowowe Oluseyi (40), Kayode Olaleye (47) and Muibi Babatunde (50), who were arraigned on a four count charge, pleaded not guilty when their plea was taken.

They were brought before the court for impersonating public officers by representing themselves as staffs of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources to the public; and fraudulently using false documents with the intention of committing the offence.

They were also charged with conspiring to commit felony and conducting themselves in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace.

Layeni later fixed Tuesday, March 30 for the commencement of the trial of the accused persons and ruled that they be remanded at the Badagry prison.

The four men were arrested at Golden Face Hotels, Orile Iganmu, by the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety officials with the assistance of The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources officials following surveillance on the men.

Items found on the men are fake inspection letters, identification cards, abatement notices of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Lagos State Wastewater Management Office, copy of court summons and stickers for certification of decontamination, all bearing the logo of Lagos State Government.

The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources had been inundated with complaints and reports from members of the public about the activities of some men reportedly extorting money on the pretext of enforcing sanitation laws in different parts of the state.

This, the ministry said, prompted its officials to liaise with personnel of the  Neighbourhood Safety Corps  to be on the surveillance for the men who had been operating in the Orile Iganmu area for quite a while before they were apprehended.