Some residents of Badagry, Lagos have appealed to President Bola Tinubu, Chief of Naval Staff, Real Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla and Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to save them from alleged harassment by some naval officers in Badagry.
The residents also alleged that the officers came to into their shops at Badagry roundabout and took away their bags of rice which they were selling to survive.
In a statement by Joseph Victor, on behalf of Rice Marketers in Badagry, said the officers continuous raiding of markets in Badagry, looking for foreign rice had crippled many activities.
Victor said that some marketers who trade in local rice could not afford to do business because the naval personnel had taken away their bags of rice.
"Naval personnel are known to safeguard our waterways, but Nigerian Navy in Badagry are going from market to market, house to house looking for foreign rice with arms.
"These officers, often times under the influence of alcohol, shoot sporadically into the air to scare away these women who will run for their life leaving their wares at the mercy of them.
“The statutory duty of the Naval Officers in Badagry is to protect the territorial waters and curb illegal fishing activities.
"But they seem to have abandoned all that for other duties, thereby running after helpless women who are selling local rice at Badagry roundabout and other places and assaulting them and taking their wares away.
"Many of these women are on sick bed while some cannot come out because they collected indebted, having collected loan from microfinance to buy these rice," he said.
The statement said that the new commanding officer of the Forward Operating Base, Nigerian Navy, Badagry to look into the situation before it degenerates to anarchy.
"We are appealing to President Tinubu to use his good office to call these erring men in uniform to order and put an end to the incessant harassment and stealing being perpetrated to avoid break down of law and order,” he said.