Lagos council probes retiree’s extortion, task force denies involvement

<p>The Isolo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State has said it is probing the extortion of a 77-year-old man, Dotun Falua, allegedly by taskforce officials in the Okota area of the state.</p>, <p>Damilola Kushimo, the Deputy Chief Press Secretary to the LCDA Chairman, Bayo Olasoju, disclosed this in a WhatsApp chat with one of our correspondents on Wednesday.</p>, <p>“Investigation is ongoing,” Kushimo said.</p>, <p>PUNCH Metro on Monday reported that Falua, who is a retiree, accused the task force officials of extorting him N55,000 in the area while on his way from the Airport Road where he visited a family friend.</p>, <p>Meanwhile, the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit has denied the involvement of its officials in the extortion.</p>, <p>The unit gave an indication that “unscrupulous individuals parading themselves as officials of the Lagos State Taskforce” could be responsible for the extortion.</p>, <p>The agency, in a statement by its Director, Press and Public Affairs, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, on Tuesday, condemned the extortion.</p>, <p>The statement quoted the chairman, CSP Shola Jejeloye, as describing the extortion as the handiwork of mischief makers who had been on the radar of the agency and would be made to answer for their crimes in the nearest future.</p>, <p>The statement read, “This is not the first time we are being accused of actions like this which turn out to be false but the handiworks of enemies of a serene, habitable and secure environment and impostors who are hell-bent on dragging our name in the mud.</p>, <p>“We have been on the trail of this set of people scattered across the metropolis, impersonating officials of the task force to extort innocent Lagosians. We have put mechanisms in place to put a stop to it permanently.</p>, <p>“There is no Task Force Office in Okota, and as of the time of the extortion, our men were busy in other locations.”</p>, <p>Jejeloye said how the men apprehended and extorted the victim went against the tenets and modus operandi of the