Thou Shalt Know Thy Tenants, Neighbours – Police Tells Lagosians

BEVERLY HILLS, August 16, (THEWILL) – Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, has urged Lagosians to be mindful of those they lease their homes to and make efforts to know their neighbours.

Owoseni made the appeal on Tuesday at Idimu while inaugurating the division's Eminent Persons Forum (EPF), as well as unveiling the community town hall built at the station saying that landlords should endeavour to collect passport photographs of their prospective tenants and get duplicate copy of their International passports data page or identity card.

He also advised that they should find out their villages and ask to see any of their community members who know them, stressing the need to not be carried away by the money the tenants intend to pay.

“Mind the kind of tenants you take. Militants fleeing from the creeks have short guns which they can hide and enter your house as tenants and start to wreak havoc. They have a way of influencing the children by buying drinks for them. You should be able to know your tenants. Ask them questions.

“Get their passport photographs and even a copy of their ID. In Ethiopia, you cannot rent a house as a foreigner without producing your passport. These are some of the ways to help make the job of the police easy.

“Globally, policing is for community members. You see what we don't see in our offices. So, the EPF is a way to further community policing. Because of things happening in the country, we are falling apart. As elders, youths, traditional and religious institution, we are losing it.

“Gone are the days when people were alive to their civic responsibilities. We have been divided along ethno-religious line even in Lagos. We are now torn apart. We carry daggers to pursue each other and it should not be so.”

“Some criminals have been arrested in motor parks with guns stocked in their bags, while trying to escaped and smuggle their weapons out of the state.”

Story by David Oputah