Lagos police arrest 7 cult capons within 3 days to rid state of crime hot spots
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Police have arrested seven cult barons in the Ikorodu axis of Lagos, according to new Police Commission Adegoke Fayoade, to build on the peace in Nigeria’s most peaceful state where there was no bank robbery in 2023 and residents also had the recent Christmas and new year celebrations without violence.
Lagos has a Security Trust Fund, established in 2007, which gets financial and logistics contributions from Alausa, corporate entities, and individuals in a public/private joint effort to ensure security statewide.
Oil mogul billionaire Femi Otedola on January 10 donated N1 billion to the Fund, building on the N200 million he wired to it at the inception in 2007, making him the single largest contributor to the initiative.
His daughter Tolani, who represented him at the cheque presentation ceremony, said the intention of her dad is to encourage others – corporates and individuals – to also donate generously to the Fund to fully kit up the security forces to maintain the peace in Lagos.
Security personnel in Lagos are highly motivated through the Trust Fund which helps provide them with training, vehicles, communication gadgets, and intelligence tools. Besides, it is reported that police officers posted to the state receive a top up allowance of between N30,000 and N50,000 from the Fund every month.
Other states have tried to emulate the security system in Lagos, but many have not been successful partly because of a lack of the type of resources available in the country’s most populous state and the richest.
Lagos is the preferred destination for foreign investments in Nigeria, it is loaded with multinational companies, banks, and encourages the creative industry to thrive.
There are more billionaires in Lagos than in many other states combined and in many African countries, and it makes the most internally generated revenue (IGR) of all states, now at about N60 billion per month.
So Lagos being Nigeria’s most peaceful state is the product of public/private support for the security agencies.
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Cults as incubators of crime
Cults are part of the breeding grounds for illicit drug use, crime, and criminals, all of which the capones are the masterminds.
Fayoade announced the arrest of the cult grandmasters at a meeting with the Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria (CRAN) at the state police command headquarters on Thursday, disclosing the arrests were made within three days.
He said three suspects were arrested on Tuesday and four on Thursday at different parts of Ikorodu following intelligence.
He gave an assurance to residents of the state that he will tackle cultism, robbery, and kidnapping headlong, and solicited the support of CRAN members, stressed media practitioners are part of his “eyes and ears” in getting feedback and other information.
He said he is also partnering the judiciary to ensure criminals are kept away from society for a long time.
He promised he would be transparent in his operations, assuring no police officer will be covered up for any wrongdoing; instead everyone will carry out their duties professionally.
Fayoade urged members of the public to give him information on any unprofessional conduct from police officers, and directed Divisional Police Officers to make their stations conducive for reports and complaints.
