Femi Ogbonnikan examines the latest policing measures being put in place by the new Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Imohinmi Edgal

Distraught by the recent upsurge in violent crimes, such as armed robbery, kidnapping, pipeline vandalism and most especially a notorious criminal gang tagged ‘badoo’ in Ikorodu town and its environs which infested the sleepy communities like a monster, Mr. Imohinmi Oluwole Edgal, the new Lagos State Commissioner of Police, in no time on Thursday, September 7, 2017, embarked on a working visit to Area ‘N’ Command headquarters, Ijede, which oversees the troubled areas, comprising Ikorodu, Igbogbo, Ibeshe, Imota, Ipakodo, and other adjoining communities. At Ikorodu, the meetings were drawn in three categories, with the first parley taking place at the palace of the Ayangburen of Ikorodu where the CP held a closed door meeting with Ikorodu traditional rulers under the able leadership of the Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Kabiru Shotobi, before a stakeholders’ meeting which was well attended by local vigilante groups made up of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Onyabo, Lagos State Neighbourhood Security Corps (LSNSC), members of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), artisans, market women and men, police officers and men under Area N Command and other various interest groups where he reeled out his programmes of policing the entire state, particularly Ikorodu which has in recent past fallen under the jugular of the badoo cult group. While the badoo group was on the prowl, no fewer than 85 people, including little children have fallen prey of the criminal activities of the group.

In his welcome address, the Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Shotobi, eulogised the courage, commitment and determination of the new CP who when he was then, the Lagos State Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in-charge of ‘Operations’ led his officers and men to launch a manhunt, day and night, in collaboration with the operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS), Army, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), members of the OPC led by Otunba Gani Adams, for the perpetrators behind the dastardly act of wanton killings for money-making rituals in Ikorodu and its environs. Besides, Oba Shotobi enjoined Edgal, the 34th Lagos State CP, to carry on from where he stopped when he was DCP to cleanse the entire affected communities in the wake of badoo attacks and bring the culprits to justice. The monarch, however, pledged the total support and commitment of the Ikorodu Traditional Rulers Council to the new Lagos State Police Commissioner towards achieving success in the fight against criminal elements operating within the sleepy communities which fall under the defunct Ikorodu Division.

Determined at ensuring the perpetrators of the recent heinous badoo killers don’t go unpunished, Edgal, in his response, vowed to follow the matter to a logical end with the arrest of the alleged arrow-head of the group, in the person of Alhaji Ademola Alaka (alias Otukoko) who has gone underground.

The CP reiterated his determination that he would send alleged ritualist, Alhaji Alaka Abayomi, to jail for operating the shrine that was uncovered at Agbowa, Ikorodu, sometime in July..

Warning that there was no hiding place for criminals at Ikorodu, the police commissioner said those who leave their domain to establish ritual and fraudulent shrines in the district would meet their doom.

“A situation where strangers would come and set up shrines for the purpose of rituals and fraudulent activities are over. It took a lot of hard work to penetrate Agbowa shrine. It was a spiritual problem. At the moment, forensic experts are carrying out investigations into the criminal aspects of the shrine....

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/10/27/new-police-czar-for-lagos/