The Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has refuted claims of any involvement in the viral story about the unfortunate robbery invasion of a popular hotel in Ago Palace Way, Lagos.
The Eagle Online earlier reported that no fewer than 15 masked armed men clad in NSCDC uniform and thugs, posing as policemen, invaded the hotel, subjecting both their customers and visitors to hours of gruelling torture and robbery.
Reacting in a statement released on Friday, the state command Public Relations Officer, NSCDC, Oluwaseun Abolurin, absolved the corps of wrongdoing and described the report as “overreaching.”
The statement partly read, “The attention of the NSCDC, Lagos State Command has been immediately brought to the viral story making the rounds on the social media space via online news platforms, links and channels about the unfortunate robbery invasion claimed, by some news purveyors, to have been perpetrated, by 15 masked men in Civil Defence uniforms and 15 unmasked tugs, in a hotel named, Seafortunes Hotel, said, to be situated, at Godwin Obasi, Ago Palace way, Okota, Lagos State, on a particular Sunday (exact date withheld in the viral stories.
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“The command has keenly observed, within few hours of reading these reports, that purveyors of the story, overreaching in a bid to attract more online readers and traffic to their websites, decided to caption their stories with ‘Civil Defence or NSCDC personnel /operatives loot Lagos hotel, without proper recourse to honest fact-finding, and balancing their stories, amidst others.
“The NSCDC, Lagos State Command, wishes to state categorically and unequivocally that such an act is unbelievably evil and can only be perpetrated by evil-doers and men of the underworld.
“Therefore, they are not members of the NSCDC, Lagos State Command, in any way or with any ramifications.
“Without mincing words, anyone who is in any way current at all with the prevailing trends of events in the security hemisphere today does not need to be updated, with the fact that evil-doers, criminals and charlatans now parade themselves as regular security agents of government globally and not limited, to our dear nation, Nigeria, to prank their unsuspecting victims, to make them vulnerable and carry out their evil machinations.
“The NSCDC, Lagos State Command, wishes to seize this opportunity to advise the general public to continue to trust the corps and support it in ensuring the fulfilment of its mandates of fighting economic sabotage amidst other heinous crimes in the state.
“It is also important for the people to see something and say something as these criminal elements are trying various and new methods every day to beat their unsuspecting victims and cart away valuables, destroy assets and infrastructure as well as even maim their victims, if that will satisfy their soul, especially, through ‘impersonation of security organisations and wearing their uniforms.”
NSCDC, therefore, urged the media, particularly reputable organisations, to always verify, clarify, and fact-check their stories before publishing them in subsequent attempts.
“This will help foster objectivity in reporting, balancing and truth, good conscience and social peace, amongst others.
“No one will gain anything good in trying to bring a well-respected organisation down through an act of sensationalism,” Abolurin stated.
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