The Ogun state Police Command has dismissed news circulating on social media that 20 people were kidnapped by bandits on Kara bridge along Lagos/Ibadan expressway as a hoax and fake news.
The Command added that it would not normally react to what it knows is fake news but the need to avoid panic in the mind of the public, the command wishes to inform the public that the said news is nothing but fake and lie from the pit of hell.
The Command in the release signed by its Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said their is nothing like kidnapping of one person not to talk of 20 persons at the Kara bridge or anywhere along the lenght of the Lagos- Ibadan expressway.
It described the peddlers of the Fake News as mere mischief makers, who always derive joy from causing unnecessary panic in the mind of innocent members of the public.
The Ogun Police Command urged the general public to discontenance the fake news as nothing of such has ever happened at the said Kara bridge.
The Command said as part of efforts to ensure such security breach does not occur in view of the road construction work going on in the axis, the commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Bankole, has ordered a 24hrs surveillance patrol of the area to checkmate the activities of hoodlums who might want to take advantage of the traffic jams to perpetrate their evil acts.
The 127Km Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has been under reconstruction and rehabilitation for a few years now and is nearing completion and is reputed as the nations’ busiest highway.
The highway which was opened in the 70’s has suffered neglect following decades of use and has a chequered history especially the various moves to repair, rehabilitate and expand it to ensure it continues to serve the nation as the main link between Other parts of the Country and the nations’ commercial capital.
It has since the advent of the Muhammadu Bhari administration gotten a short in the arm and the expansion, repair and rehabilitation has gone on apace with minimal disruption due to funding.
It is expected to have facilities such as Police Stations, Fuelling Stations, Pedestrian Bridges, Interchanges to cater for areas that have developed since after the commissioning of the road, new drainages, Street Lights and Others.