A MAGISTRATE court in Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos State, has sentenced a teenager, Solomon Uzuokwu, to one-month imprisonment for sending a fake fire alarm to firefighters.
Uzuokwu was found guilty of two charges, including disturbing the peace and calling a fake fire emergency.
Magistrate Bambo Odueke gave the ruling with an option of a fine and a month of community service campaign against fake calls within the state.
However, after entering a guilty plea, the defendant accepted the option of a fine.
A statement released on Friday, April 28, signed by the Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Agboola Ololade, on behalf of the Director of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, noted that the decision was informed by the court’s recognition of the “honourable nature of the firefighting profession and the efficient service delivery of the Agency, both of which necessitated widespread support”.
Adeseye, head of the Lagos Fire and Rescue Service, also expressed her happiness at the prompt prosecution of the case as a warning to other misinformed residents who place fictitious calls and to misinform emergency personnel.
“Adeseye used the occasion to note the seeming reduction in false calls since the advent of the case and pledged to work with the culprit in using his community service as another medium to reach a large audience among other efforts championed by the Agency,” the statement added.
The Lagos State government arraigned Uzuokwu for offences relating to making hoax calls to fire emergency responders.
Ololade said the offence was punishable under the Lagos State Fire Service law and Command and Control Centre law 2013.
The 18 years old Solomon, according to the statement, allegedly called the emergency line of the Fire Service on Friday, April 14, 2023, at 5:35 pm from Harmony Estate in the Ajah area of the state and reported a fire emergency within the estate leading to the activation of emergency processes and eventual dispatch of the fire trucks from Lekki Phase II Fire Service station.
“On arrival, it was discovered that there was no fire incident in the estate. Because of the frequency of such calls in the past, the estate security helped in the investigation, which led to the arrest of the notorious false caller.”
Consequently, the culprit was arraigned at Ogba Magistrate on April 19, before his subsequent conviction.
A reporter with the ICIR
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