Lockdown: 65 partygoers to face trial Monday

The 65 partygoers arrested for violating the lockdown order to curb the spread of coronavirus in the state will be arraigned on Monday.

The state police Spokesperson, Bala Elkana, disclosed this on Friday, to our correspondent.

The Lagos State Task Force on COVID-19 on Wednesday arrested the suspects who gathered at 84 Parks and Gardens in the Abule-Egba area of the state for a birthday bash.

The task force, comprising personnel of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, Lagos State Safety Commission, Rapid Response Squad and the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences (Enforcement Unit), went to the venue to arrest the violators following a tip-off from some members of the public.

The suspects were subsequently handed over to the police for profiling, while the venue for the party was sealed off.

Elkana said the suspects were still undergoing interrogation.

He said they would have been arraigned on Friday but for the public holiday occasioned by the Workers’ Day.

“We are still investigating. They will soon be in court. They would have been in court today (Friday) but because it’s a public holiday, the courts did not sit. Definitely, it has to be on Monday,” Elkana said.

The partygoers were said to have defied the state government’s lockdown directive and that of President Muhammadu Buhari, who on March 30 ordered an initial 14-day lockdown in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and, Ogun states. Several other states had introduced similar restrictions to curb the COVID-19 spread.

However, Buhari had extended the lockdown for two weeks and further announced that there would be a phased and gradual easing of the lockdown by May 4.