The saying that “anything goes in Lagos played out in the life of 24-year-old photojournalist, Yinka Badmus, when police operatives attached to the Lagos State Anti-Cultism unit arrested him on the grounds that he was wearing a dreadlock.
Badmus who was reportedly arrested while eating noodle at the Pedro Bus-stop, Gbagada, on December 30th 2018, was said to have been dragged to the police station and detained. The operatives allegedly said that the dreadlocks made him look like a cultist.
The detained journalist was reportedly not allowed to contact his relatives or friends while he spent the new year in police custody. Reprieve, however, came Badmus’s way when one of his fellow detainees left off the hook, brought his predicament to his family’s notice on January 3rd 2019.
The detainee made contact with Badmus’ relatives and told them that Badmus had already spent three days in police detention, an action which went contrary to detention rules that suspects must be charged within 24 hours of arrest.
Badmus family were said to have contacted Yinka’s employer, Stephen Oguntoyibo, the owner of Talk Village International, to wade in and secure his bail.
According to media reports, when Stephen Oguntoyibo went to bail Badmus at the station, to his surprise, the Police were already conveying him and other young men in a Black Maria to Ogudu Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, where he was eventually arraigned and remanded in Ikoyi Prison Lagos .
Oguntoyibo who spoke to the media said ”At the Ogudu Magistrate’s Court, the resident judge asked that Badmus be granted bail and a lawyer in the magistrate court was attached to us.
“The lawyer subsequently requested for the following: means of ID proof, house rent receipt, NEPA bill, company ID and tax payment receipts for two years. He also received N10,000 and later the lawyer demanded another N20,000 for his service, with a promise that he would have a meeting with the judge and, thereby, effect Badmus’s release.
“On Tuesday, I called the lawyer with the intention of submitting the requested documents, so the boy can be released. The lawyer, again, demanded another N25,000 for bail bond, and also made me know that I would have to pay police for verification and other processes. Meanwhile, the boy has been remanded in Ikoyi Prison.”
National Coordinator of the Network for Police Reforms in Nigeria, Okechukwu Nwanguma, who was also contacted, queried where it was a crime for anyone to wear dreadlocks.
“The Police officer was quoted as saying the guy was arrested because of his hairstyle. Where in the law is a hairstyle a crime? And why did the Police officer go ahead to charge him?
“Since he was granted bail, why did the lawyer keep making financial demands from the surety, including money for the Police to go and verify the surety’s residence? Isn’t that unbecoming of a lawyer? The innocent guy is languishing in prison, reported to be very sick, all because of a lawyer’s greed.” he said.