The Lagos State Taskforce has arrested 32 street urchins, popularly known as Omotaku, for allegedly causing public nuisance and obstructing traffic on major highways across the state.

The agency, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Raheem Gbadeyan, on Monday, stated that the suspects were apprehended during a coordinated enforcement operation carried out on Tuesday across the Island and Mainland following complaints by residents over the activities of the miscreants.

He added that the operation, which was part of the Taskforce’s ongoing clean-up exercise, covered areas such as Apongbon, Fadeyi, Jibowu, Yaba Phase 1, Lagos Island, Palmgrove, Ojuelegba, and Surulere, among other adjoining roads.

“In these locations, the Taskforce observed the illegal activities of these miscreants who were unlawfully stopping articulated vehicles such as petroleum tankers, lorries, trucks, trailers, and private cars.

“During the raid, a total of 32 suspects were apprehended for constituting public nuisance, illegal road obstruction, and violating the Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018, as well as the Environmental Management and Protection Law of 2017. Some of the suspects were also found to be smoking substances suspected to be hard drugs and Indian hemp,” the statement added.

According to him, the Chairman of the Lagos State Taskforce, CSP Adetayo Akerele, said the agency remained committed to ensuring public safety across the state.

“We will not relent in our efforts to comb all nooks and crannies of Lagos to rid the state of criminal elements and other undesirable activities on our roads,” Akerele was quoted as saying.

He added that the operation restored sanity to the affected areas while the suspects had been charged in court.

Police have arrested Essien Emmanuel Akpama, a 20-year-old international romance fraud suspect, over an alleged scam involving more than N1 billion.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mohammed Adeola, spokesperson of the airport police command, Lagos, said Akpama was arrested on Monday, January 5, by operatives of the anti-fraud unit while attempting to board a flight.

Adeola said the arrest followed “months of intensive intelligence-led surveillance and monitoring based on credible information”.

Akpama is accused of defrauding multiple victims in the United States of America through romance and celebrity scam schemes, with losses running into over one million US dollars.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect, who previously resided in Calabar, Cross River State, relocated to Lagos State on February 23, 2024, from where he coordinated and executed several fraudulent schemes,” the statement reads.

The police spokesperson said in one instance in 2024, Akpama allegedly deceived a 47-year-old female victim in the US into transferring one million dollars under the guise of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage.

Adeola said the funds were solicited through a cryptocurrency scheme known as “BullRun 2.0”, formerly called “4 Way Mirror Money”.

Adeola said the suspect posed as “a 60-year-old orthopaedic surgeon working with the United Nations in Nigeria”, claiming the devices were needed to maintain secure communication with his victim.

He added that Akpama allegedly defrauded another 70-year-old female victim in the US of N25,709,400, the equivalent of $18,000, through the purchase of gift cards, high-end mobile phones, and computer equipment shipped to Nigeria at his direction.

Items recovered from the suspect include a MacBook Pro 14-inch, an iPhone 17 Pro Max, two Google Pixel 10 Pro XL devices, and one Google Pixel 10 Pro, valued at N8,141,367.

Adeola said the case has been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) special fraud unit for further investigation, adding that the suspect will be arraigned in court at the conclusion of investigations.

Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, says Peter Obi will not become the presidential or vice-presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Speaking in an interview on The Clarity Zone Podcast, Bwala claimed that Obi lacks the capacity to serve as director-general of any coalition movement.

The presidential aide also added that the former Anambra governor would eventually contest the next election on a different platform.

He said Obi lost control of the political structure he built after the 2023 election, including his influence in the national assembly.

“After the election, he lost everybody he was leading. He had members in the House of Representatives. How many are there in the national assembly?” Bwala asked.

“The only governor he had… is the governor with him or with us? In fact, I have not seen one that identifies with him at the moment. All the elections he has gone across Nigeria supporting candidates… all of them failed.

“The army of Trojans that he has on social media, they attack people. They say you are two-faced, that you change party. That’s what they do every day.

“But when you say their master and hero has been changing party like a player in the Premier League changes clubs every season, they don’t like it.”

The presidential aide also accused Obi of hypocrisy over party loyalty, saying the former Anambra governor has switched political platforms repeatedly.

“He started with PDP, then went to APGA. In APGA, he came back to PDP. From PDP, he went to Labour,” he said.

“Right now, when you hear people talk about being between the devil and the deep blue sea, he is between ADC and Labour.

“He will not be the presidential candidate, he will not be the vice-presidential candidate. Peter Obi is going to run on a platform other than Labour and other than ADC.”

Bwala further said Obi will not secure even a quarter of the votes he recorded in the 2023 presidential election.

Obi, a former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the last general election, polled 6,101,533 votes to come a distant third behind candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The presidential aide said Obi’s political rise was driven by a fleeting opportunity rather than enduring grassroots strength.

Bwala also described Obi as “an actor” in Nigeria’s political space, noting that his appeal was based on “make-believe” rather than political reality.

Friday December 05, 2025 pic.twitter.com/fDUbPpabad

— D. H Bwala (@BwalaDaniel) January 5, 2026