I'm not a Badoo member-Teacher arrested during raid cries out

Okewunmi Omotoyosi Daniel, who was, weekend, arrested alongside suspected members of the notorious Badoo boys during a joint raid by the Police, O’odua Peoples Congress, OPC, and members of a vigilante group in Ikorodu area of Lagos, has said that he is not a member of the dreaded cult.

Daniel’s face appeared in a photograph taken by the Police during the weekend raid.

However, Daniel, who said he is a teacher, visited Vanguard’s corporate headquarters yesterday, noting that he was later released after he convinced the Police of his innocence. Narrating his ordeal, Daniel said:

 “At about 2p.m. on Saturday, I went in the company of my wife and our nine-month-old baby to a salon close to my house at Abuja Bus Stop, Ikorodu, to have a hair cut. ‘’While waiting for my turn, our baby started crying and I took him to the section where my wife was also having her hair done. 

“Later, we heard a word of command from the community vigilante known as Onyabo, ordering everyone to stand up. Members of the Onyabo said that our attention was needed by the Commissioner of Police outside. “We were the first set of people arrested. Miscreants led the Police to where the raids were carried out. 

After the arrest, we were taken into the Black Maria without an opportunity to explain ourselves. The Onyabo members (community guards) even collected telephones of those arrested. “They even chased people standing on their own at Owode Roundabout, Imota and Ita-Maga, and apprehended a man who was about entering a Mosque to pray. 

“We were taken in a parked Black Maria to the Task Force office at Oshodi, where we were detained. That was where they started taking shots of us, as if we were Badoo members. “

Among those arrested were eight civil servants. The cell did not even contain us. I had to stand all through. “Had my wife and dad not brought the documents, I am sure that I would have still been detained.

 My release’

“Next day (Sunday), my wife and my father came with all my documents that proved that I am a civil servant. In fact, I am a teacher at Oluwalogbon Primary School, Ketu. After showing them all my documents, they released me at about 11p.m. “But I woke up today (Monday) to be confronted with my picture on the front page of your newspaper. See (displaying his wife’s phone) my wife’s phone has a picture of me while being ushered out of the saloon I went to. 

“I have received several calls from friends and relatives, who saw my picture in the newspaper, asking what happened. I couldn’t go to work today. I only contacted the school to hint them of the development so I can come here and explain my side of the story, so that my image can be redeemed. 

 Evidence of innocence

“These are my documents (displaying the documents he showed to the Police). I was among the teachers recruited last year. This is my letter of appointment, dated March 2016. “My deployment letter is also with me; it was dated April 1, and I also have my letter of assumption of office dated October 7. Here are my pay slips as well. “I am here to express my displeasure over the whole exercise. Even if they wanted to do such thing, they could have gone to joints. Why would the Nigeria Police allow hooligans to raid the society? “Badoo boys can never be caught in the day time. Residents are even not ready to hand them over if they are caught, but rather prefer to carry out immediate justice.”