Connect with us

Metro

Police parade 130 hoodlums terrorising Lagos communities

Published

on

The Lagos State Police Command on Monday paraded about 130 suspected hoodlums arrested in connection with the spate of attacks on innocent residents of some communities in the state during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The hoodlums, taking advantage of the lockdown ordered by government had allegedly attacked residents and dispossessed them of their valuables.

According to reports, areas affected by the attacks included Capitol Road, Amowo, Dopemu, Oko-Oba, Maroko, Abule-Egba, Ogba, Ejigbo and Agege.

The state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, while parading the hoodlums at the command headquarters in Ikeja, said the suspects took advantage of the border towns connecting Lagos and Ogun states, adding that they were arrested in connection with the unrest in the state and for violating the lockdown order.

Odumosu stated: “This thing started about three days ago, when miscreants in Ogun State decided to act above the law. They tried to push their luck into Lagos State through the border towns, but we got the information early enough and deployed sufficient personnel of the command in the border towns and that made them not to infiltrate Lagos.

“In the past, whenever these miscreants came to Lagos to attack residents, they go back through the border towns and this had always created tension. So, people living in Agege, Alakuko, Meiran, Alagbado, Iju and Iyana Ipaja areas that are close to Ogun State started panicking and a lot of posts were circulated on the social media that were purely fabricated lies and that generated a lot of tension.

“So, since they feel that the miscreants were coming to attack them, they took the law into their own hands to defend themselves by mobilising themselves and this created more tension. Up till this moment, there has not been any report of anybody being robbed, or raped, or houses and vehicles being burnt or vandalised.”

Read also: Police recover 3,249 arms at criminal hideout in Rivers

Odumosu added that he had gone round to restore confidence in the affected areas, but urged the residents not to take the law into their own hands, adding that all the suspects would be charged to court on Tuesday (Today)

Responding to allegations that Divisional Police Officers failed to respond to distress calls, Odumosu said: “They are allegations, but when we went out, some people actually said they called one or two DPOs, who did not respond, but that might just be an excuse by them, because there have not been reports or complaints to me that any DPO did not respond.

“However, there may be an element of truth in the allegations. All the DPOs have been seriously warned and to complement that, I have actually given out my own numbers so that if there is any complaint from any quarter, they should call me directly.

“But, the DPOs have also been warned and very soon, we are going to give out the numbers of all the DPOs in the command to the media so that if anyone of them is called and the person refuses to take action, necessary disciplinary action will be taken against them.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now