For years, they have been behaving like the lords of the manor. In their enclaves, they are indeed lords in their own right. From motor parks to bus stops and some open recreation centres such as beaches where they usually operate, they do and undo. The syndrome of social miscreants, otherwise known as ‘area boys’ is indeed a troubling trend in the ‘Centre of Excellence’.
But now, their days appear to be numbered as the Lagos State Task Force on Environment and Special Offences has begun a clampdown on them. In the past few weeks, scores of them have been arrested in surprise raids that were kick-started by the task force on Friday, February10.
At the Island alone on the first few days, 152 suspects were arrested and since then the heat has been turned against the miscreants. Several other arrests have been made for breach of public peace.
According to the Chairman of the Task Force, Bayo Sulaiman, a superintendent of Police(SP) once the suspects were arrested, they would be screened and those found culpable would be charged accordingly.He disclosed that the raids would focus on black spots, which apart from the Island include Mushin, Fadeyi and Oshodi among others.
The police boss said the raids became imperative because of public complaints about the nefarious activities of the miscreants, which have become a threat to the safety of the people as well as obstacle to public peace.To him, there is no going on the battle to rid the state of miscreants. And as soon as their havens are identified, the task force men would go after them.
“The operation took off last month because of public complaints about their disturbances and other unlawful acts and it going to be a continuous exercise until we have peace”, he said, adding: “We want to push them out of the state”.He sought the cooperation of the members of the public, urging them not to hesitate to inform the task office where and when necessary so as to free Lagos from any nuisance activities since that is the vision of the state government.”
The Lagos State Force on Environment and Special Offence is reputed for its determination to rid the state of environmental and social nuisance. Some of its achievements in this area included the massive early morning operation conducted at Oshodi some few years back which now transformed the once notoriously congested Oshodi. They were also involved in the recent exercise that rid equally congested Obalende of its filth.
By VICTOR EBIMOMI
