You arrested our chess master?’ Nigerians react as LAWMA lists ‘Tunde Onakoya’ among arrested miscreants in Lagos

A tweet from Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, sparked reactions online on Tuesday after one of the names on a list of arrested miscreants matched that popular Chess master, Tunde Onakoya.

Wahab announced that nine individuals were apprehended by the Lagos Waste Management Authority enforcement team under the Ozumba Mbadiwe bridge.

He wrote, “LAWMA enforcement team in the early hours of today arrested 9 miscreants under Ozumba Mbadiwe bridge. They are: Tunde Onakoya – 36yrs. Collins Ararume – 36yrs. Musiliu Fatokun – 27yrs. Usman Umar- 22yrs. Michael Oladotun- 18yrs. Michael Oluwakayode – 22yrs. Yusuf Azika- 26yrs. Bankole Akinola – 19yrs. Abdullahi Olatunji- 19yrs.”

Onakoya, the founder of the Chess in Slums Africa initiative and Guinness World Record holder, quickly became the subject of trending conversations, with users questioning whether he was mistakenly arrested during his chess outreach programs.

Some users jumped on the name coincidence, stating that it couldn’t be the chess master, while others tagged the chess master to confirm he was fine.

Reacting to Wahab’s post, the 30-year-old chess master humourously wrote, “No way… Was he teaching chess when this happened? Am I tweeting from detention?”

Toluwalase tweeting as #ToluwalaseR also seeked clarification from Wahab and asked if the chess master was safe saying, “Mr Toks, please which of the Tunde Onakoya are your talking about? #Tunde_OD are you safe?”

Akinwale tweeting as #Dolipeepe similalry wrote, “Oga Toks, your people don go pack Chess master where e dey teach boys under the bridge how to play chess.”

#afolabi_kolajo also commented, “#Tunde_OD, you dey teach chess before they pick you up?”

Success, who tweets as #Dice_of_Eko wrote, “You arrest our chess master.”

“Tunde Onakoya ke. This one can’t be our Tunde Onakoya,” #Adeklinsmann2 wrote.