Not less than 12 persons have been arrested by the Lagos Environmental Sanitation Corps, popularly known as KAI, for squatting on pedestrian bridge.

This was disclosed in a post on X platform on Wednesday,  by the state Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab.

Wahab wrote, “The operatives of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps @LAGESCOfficial today conducted clearance operations on the pedestrian bridges at Ikate Elegushi and Agungi along Ajah. Twelve miscreants were arrested for sleeping on the bridge and inside the opening under the bridge at Ikate Elegushi. The pedestrian bridge has been cleaned by

@Lawma_gov and it is safe for use.”

However, Festus Ogun, a Lagos-based lawyer, argued with the commissioner over what he described as punishing the poor for being homeless.

“Vagrancy Law was abolished in the 1980s. Punishing poor people for being homeless and jobless is unacceptable. It is a direct attack on human rights and the dignity of human persons,” Ogun wrote via @mrfestusogun.

Some months ago, KAI stated it’s arraigned and secured the conviction of 27 suspected miscreants arrested for unlawful conversion of pedestrian bridges in the state to their abode.

The suspects, after their conviction, were sentenced to five months imprisonment each by the court, as claimed by the LAGESC.