18-year-old makes fake call to Lagos fire service, to face court action

The Lagos State Government is set to arraign a teenager, Uzuokwu Solomon, for offences relating to making hoax calls for emergency responder.

The Deputy Director, Public Affairs of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Ololade Agboola, stated this in a statement on Tuesday.

Ololade said the offence was punishable under the Lagos State Fire Service Law and Command and Control Centre law 2013.

According to the statement, 18 years old Solomon allegedly called the emergency line of the Fire Service on Friday, April 14, 2023, at 5.35pm from Harmony Estate in the Ajah area of the state and reported a fire emergency within the estate.

The call led to the activation of emergency processes and eventual dispatch of the fire trucks from Lekki Phase II Fire service station.

The statement reads partly, “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 who had been arrested is scheduled to be arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction at Ogba Magistrate on the 19th of April (today).”

The statement added that that the Director, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Mrs Margaret Adeseye, said the arrest of the culprit and consequent arraignment would serve as a deterrent for other citizens who are in the habit of making false calls and misleading emergency responders.