arrest 552 murder suspects between January-August
By Dwelleth Morountodun
The Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, has said the Force will soon recruit 40,000 personnel for community policing to stem the tide of kidnapping and armed banditry across the country.
The reinforcement, he said is to give full effect to the country’s community policing vision as a pathway towards bridging security gaps, adding: “We shall soon commence the implementation of the strategy in the South West and other parts of the country.
“For operational reasons, I would not offer the details into the operation, I am in this summit with the Commissioner of Police (CP), who will command the special operation to complement the efforts of the Police Commissioners in the States within the Zone.
“The Police boss said that In addition, a special operation is underway across the South-west geopolitical Zone, which will specifically address the threat of kidnapping and armed robbery on the highways.
“The CPOs, will be recruited from within the communities where the prospective applicants reside and an average of 50 CPOs are to be engaged in each of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs), in addition, 1,300, CPOs will be drawn from professional bodies like the academics, road transport unions, artisans, traders associations, religious bodies, women unions, and youth organisations.”
Adamu, said the NPF arrested 552 murder suspects between January and August this year with 66 suspects in the South-west.
According to him, 2,015 armed robbery suspects were arrested with 363 of the figure arrested in the South West, while 1,154 kidnapping suspects were also apprehended in various operations. 147 of these were arrested in the South West.
Furthermore, 1,183 suspected cultists have also been arrested with 425 of this figure apprehended in the South Western States. Police: We have stabilized security nationwide, he said.
Adamu, also averred that the security situation across the country has been stabilized, even as he admitted that there are isolated cases along Benin-Ore-Lagos Highway and across Ondo State.
The IG made the disclosure when the Governor of Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde, hosted him and other stakeholders in South West geopolitical region.
He said: “In relation to recoveries, 1,356 firearms of various calibre and descriptions were recovered in various intelligence-led operations by the Police with 277 of such recoveries made in the South Western part of the country.
“Similarly, 21,300 ammunition were recovered in various intelligence-led operations with the highest number of 5, 270 ammunition recovered from criminal syndicates in the South West including about 2,700 ammunition recovered in June, 2019 from a cross-border arms smuggling syndicate in Oyo State.
“Furthermore, 1,541 stolen vehicles were recovered with 482 of such recoveries achieved in the South West while a total of 837 kidnapping victim were rescued with 106 of such rescues achieved in the South West.”
The meeting, he said is convened within the context of our community policing vision which emphasizes citizens’ engagement in the process of identifying, dissecting and prioritizing threats to communal values, partnering to develop strategies to address the threats, and building trust to undertake actions directed at mitigating them.
According to him: “The first security summit, issues touching on banditry, kidnapping and sundry violent crimes were discussed, opinions aggregated, and new anti-crime pathways jointly evolved.
“I am delighted to note that the strategies jointly developed between the strategic community actors and the Police which are currently being implemented have been effective in addressing the identified security threats in the geopolitical Zone.
“This is evidenced by the fact that since the meeting, the rate of these crimes has not only dropped drastically, several bandits have voluntary renounced crime, submitted their weapons and released several victims that had hitherto been kidnapped and held in their camps across the Zone.”
He admitted that there has been a remarkable increase in the volume and quality of pieces of criminal information shared by the citizens across the North West geopolitical Zone with the local police adding that these are being optimally utilised to take the anti-crime war to the door steps of the criminals with resounding success.
On NPF experience, he said: “Our experience from the first security Summit stresses two fundamental facts in relation to policing and community safety. Firstly, it highlights the fact that we cannot proceed on an anti-crime war against criminal elements that are united in their determination to threaten our common values with a divided front.
“Hence, we must as a strategy, strengthen partnership among ourselves as a community on the one hand, and between the communities and the police on the other hand. The strength of this partnership and the commitment of all actors within the process will undoubtedly, influence the extent of success we can record against the criminals.
“These include advancing the principles of community policing in engaging the citizens towards x-raying the dynamics of crime in the South-west geopolitical Zone, drawing on the rich experiences and wisdom of our traditional rulers and all citizens across the zone, and galvanizing our communities to march hand-in-hand with us in reviewing our strategies and jointly evolving new pathways and actions towards restoring security order across our communities.
“The reality is that the current concerted operations of the Police and other security agencies across the country, particularly, along the Niger-Kogi-FCT-Kaduna-Katsina and Zamfara areas have engendered a dispersal and re-location of some of the criminals to new localities including the South West