Edgar Imohimi: Meet new Lagos CP, the nemesis of Badoo, militants, kidnappers

The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has appointed Edgar Imohimi as the new Commissioner of Police in-charge of the Lagos State Command.

This followed Edgar’s recent promotion by the Police Service Commission (PSC)

Edgar was until his promotion, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, in charge of Operations, in Lagos State.

Observers believe Edgar is the right man to succeed Fatai Owoseni, who many say performed excellently. Not only does the new CP know the Lagos terrain, he led several raids against notorious kingpins, criminal gangs and their hideouts.

In recent times, Lagos witnessed an increase in cases of abductions and militant activities.

It reached a point that the military had to form a special squad that culminated in a joint task force in conjunction other security agencies, as criminals held sway in areas like Badagry, Ikorodu, Isheri, Epe among others.

Exactly a year ago, a number of militants that terrorized Lagos and Ogun states were killed when the task force stormed the creeks.

The criminals drew the anger of the Nigerian government after seven operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) were murdered the night of Tuesday September 16, 2015 by pipeline vandals at Ishawo in Ikorodu.

Although the corpses of the officers were taken away by the assailants, decomposing remains were later found after some of the suspects caught led security agencies to the burial spot.

The incident charged the nation’s security apparatus and what started like a one-off operation lasted a week; the military carried out aerial bombardment of the general area at regular intervals.

Fighter jets mercilessly shelled Ishawo, Igando and Igbolomu areas of Ikorodu in Lagos State, and Arepo, Awawa, Elepete and Ibafo in Ogun State, while ground troops fired any thug in sight.

The operation involved the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Nigeria Police Force.

It dealt severe blows to criminals that had long engaged in vices such as pipeline vandalism, robbery, murder, rape and kidnapping.

Worthy of note is the new CP, who by his position as DCP Ops, played active part as he co-led that operation.

In 2017, while continuing the war against militants and kidnappers, the Badoo cult became more lethal and Edgar again was up to the task. He coordinated assaults which resulted in arrests of scores of members of the dreaded gang.

Background

Imohimi Edgar was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force, as a cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police, on February 2, 1986, serving in various commands and formations of the NPF within the country in several capacities, spending most of his days at the Lagos State Police Command.

A 1984 graduate of Art at the University of Jos, went on to bag a master's degree in Public and International Affairs at the University of Lagos in 2004. Edgar is highly trained on Community and Intelligence Gathering Policing; he organised the first Community Policing summits in Ikeja GRA, Lagos State.

Edgar, who served as the Divisional Police Officer of Shomolu Police Division, Seme Police Division, Ikeja and Surulere Police Divisions, between the year 2003 and 2011, as a Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, before he was promoted and appointed the Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, in-charge-of the Area A, Command, Lagos, ‎obtained a diploma degree in Police Science. ‎

He also obtained a certificate of National Security for Nigeria Defence Intelligence, at the Centre of Strategic Studies, Galilee International Management Institute Israel and the Defence Intelligence College Abuja in 2015, which necessitated his appointment as the ACP in charge of the Intelligence at the Police Force Headquarters Abuja.

An expert in Community Policing, Edgar attended several courses organised by the Department For International Development, DFID, United Kingdom, in Lagos, Awka, Anambra States and Staff College Jos, Plateau State, making him Community Policing in Nigeria.

In 2010, Edgar, as DPO Ikeja Division, launched the first Community Policing in Ikeja Lagos State. 

He hosted security stakeholders in Ikeja, at Savoy Suite, GRA and lectured participants on how to assist the police on Community Policing.

Operations

Aside the 2016 war on militants he co-led and others, Edgar currently leads a joint security operation, involving members of the Oodua Progress Congress, OPC, Ikorodu Local Vigilante, Oyebo, the DSS, Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps, ‎traditionalists and some local chiefs in Ikorodu.

The unit was established to specifically tackle the menace of the Badoo cult group. Edgar spearheaded the discovery of a suspected notorious shrine used for ritual purposes.

The new CP also played a major role in the rescue of the six kidnapped students of Lagos Model College, Igbonla, Epe, who were abducted on May 25, 2017.

The students – Agbaosi Judah, Jonah Peter, Philips Pelumi, Adebanjo George , Yusuf Faruq and Ramon Isiaka – were freed after 65 days.

It would also be recalled that Edgar mobilised policemen from the Anti-Robbery and Kidnapping units of the Lagos Police, and their counterparts at the Marine Police to attack and kill members of the kidnap gang that attempted to snatch some police gunboats from the Marine Police Post in Ajah.

The leader of the kidnap gang, known as America, was killed in that operation. His death and the subsequent arrest of relatives of his gang members, compelled abductors of the kidnapped Epe students to free their captives in Ondo State.