Badoo: Carry identity cards, police order Ikorodu residents

The police in Lagos on Tuesday directed residents of Ikorodu and its environs to always have a means of identification with them.

“This order takes immediate effect from the 4th of July 2017,” Lagos State police spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole, said in a statement.

It comes two days after the lynching of three suspected members of the notorious Badoo cult accused of carrying out gruesome murders and other criminal activities in the area.

There have been reports that some of the suspects lynched by irate mobs were innocent.

Ola-Famous said a series of operations will be carried out to flush out criminal elements in Ikorodu, whose activities have been affecting the integrity of the state.

The police therefore directed residents to carry along with them a means of identification “in order not to be restricted or face apprehension as adequate security arrangements have been put in place for the safety of every Nigerian throughout the state by the police and other security agencies.”

Press Release ATTENTION TO IKORODU RESIDENCE; The Lagos state police command would like to inform members of the public especially residents in ikorodu and environs,that from henceforth everybody moving around that part of the state, residents, students or workers should always have on them a valid form of identification. This has become important and necessary because of the series of police operations lined up in the area by the Lagos state police command led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations. The Lagos state police command is deeply concerned about the criminal activities in the area which is not only unlawful but also affecting the integrity of the state. The planned police operations demands residents to carry on them a valid form of identification which will be verified, in order not to be restricted or face apprehension as adequate security arrangements have been put in place for the safety of every Nigerian throughout the state by the police and other security agencies. This order takes immediate effect from the 4th of July 2017. Signed ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole Police public relations officer Lagos State Police Command. 4th of July 2017

A post shared by Lagos State Police Command (@policenglagos) on Jul 3, 2017 at 5:05pm PDT

The police had on Sunday announced the arrest of over 100 suspected members of the Badoo cult.

A team comprising men of the Lagos State Police Command, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), as well as local vigilantes were said to have carried out the arrests after combing suspected hideouts of the members of the gang from streets to streets.

The exercise was a follow up to a meeting which the National Coordinator of Oodua Peoples’ Congress, Chief Gani Adams and Onyabo leaders held with security chiefs in the state last Friday.

There are, however, claims that some of the people arrested were not members of the Badoo cult, just as it emerged that one of the suspects recently lynched by angry residents was comedian, Chinedu Paul, popularly known as MC Think Twice.