NSCDC arrests church leader over illegal security company

NSCDC arrests church leader over illegal security company

Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Lagos State Command have arrested a Catholic Church leader, Lucky Omofumah, for allegedly operating an illegal private security company, Divine Assurance Security, in the Ikeja area of the state.

According to The PUNCH, Omofumah was arrested alongside one of his workers.

It was discovered that the suspect had hired 23 members of his church into the business and had been employed by supermarkets and electronics retailers in the Ikeja Underbridge region since April 2022 before his arrest.

It was gathered that Omofumah said he did not register his company because he could not afford the registration fee.

He said, “I haven’t registered the private security company with the NSCDC. I have been operating since April 2022. I collect N35,000 per security officer that I attach to clients and I pay my staff 70 per cent of the money.”

Ambrose John, one of his employees and a native of Taraba State, claimed to have just started back at work and was not aware that the business was functioning illegally.

He said, “My brother is one of his followers in church. He works for the company and also helped me to join two weeks ago. He agreed to be paying me N25,000 monthly. I did not know that the company was not registered.”

The Head, Private Guards Company Department, NSCDC, Deputy Commandant Onyegbula Eze, said the arrest was made after investigations revealed that the company was operating illegally.

The NSCDC Commandant, Eweka Okoro, said the command was trailing operators of two other security companies, City Guards, and Henristo Security, which had been shut.en shut.