No fewer than 243 persons were arrested at Lagos nightclubs by police operatives in the state for violating COVID-19 protocols on Saturday, January 9, 2021.

The violators were said to have been arrested during a raid on Lounge 38, Bode Thomas, Surulere, where 85 suspects were arrested and the Club Victoria’s in Victoria Island, where 152 suspects were also arrested. 

The state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, who led the raid also arrested six other persons for the same offence.

While parading the suspects at the command’s headquarters in Ikeja, Odumosu said the 243 suspects had been charged to court. 

He said, “Generally, it has been observed that many Lagosians disregard the COVID-19 protocols and this has been so worrisome. In continuation of the commitment of the command to enforce the COVID-19 protocols, on Friday, January 8, 2021, during a night operation coordinated by the CP, the Command pounced on some deviant night clubs where 237 violators were arrested.

“The clubs raided included the Lounge 38 at Bode Thomas, Surulere, where 85 suspects were arrested, the Club Victoria’s in Victoria Island, where 152 suspects were arrested, while six others were arrested for violating the midnight to 4am curfew imposed on the state by the Federal Government.

“In total, 243 violators were arrested and are being paraded today.”

While warning club owners in the state, Odumosu stressed that the command was committed to the total enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines, adding that the police would arrest anyone that flout the guidelines. 

He said, “Club owners in the state are hereby strictly warned to comply with the state government’s directive of immediate and total closure of clubs. Violators will not only be prosecuted, we may have to recommend to the state government that their Certificate of Occupancy be confiscated.”

The CP sad it’s been observed that that most club houses were neither built for that purpose nor approved to be used as club houses by the government.

He therefore, called on Lagos residents to support the government in containing the spread of the second wave of the COVID-19 infections in the state.