One of the vandals of bridge railings in Lagos State, Godwin Nwankwo, who was released from detention 18 days ago, has been rearrested for committing the same offence .
Twenty-three-year-old Godwin was, about two months ago, arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad,who again rearrested him on Monday, for same offence.
The suspect was arrested when he was bringing out some cut-to-size railings and crash barriers from manholes which were meant to reinforce Ijora Bridge from vibrating, as well as protect vehicles from falling from the bridge.
The suspect had, before the Monday arrest, spent 44 days in the police detention for stealing railings from Ijora Bridge.
Godwin insisted that he stole the railings because he was desperately hungry, adding that there was no alternative means for him to get money.
The suspect said: “When I was arrested for the first time, I pleaded for leniency and mercies. Now, I have been caught again, I don’t know what to say or how to plead for mercies again. All I can say is that it was the devil that pushed me into this act.”
He also stated that “my plan was to raise some money to enable me relocate to Enugu, where I repair handsets before coming to Lagos. I want to leave Lagos because my life had been meaningless here.”
The confession by the suspect led to the arrest of Alhaji Sanni Tiamiyu, who was alleged to be one of the buyers of the stolen railings and manholes.
The imagemaker in charge of the state police command, Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the arrest of the suspect to Lagos Metro.
“We are intensifying our efforts to arrest anybody vandalising government’s infrastructure across the state. This stride has begun to yield positive results, as some of them have been arrested and they are facing prosecution at the moment,” the Lagos police spokesperson added.
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