The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on Tuesday pledged to tame the rising cases of kidnapping in Ogun State.
Egbetokun, who said this at a stakeholders’ meeting held at the State Police headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, as part of his three-day official visit to the state approved the immediate creation of additional Area Commands in Ifo, Imeko and Idiroko areas of the state.
Addressing stakeholders and the rank-and-file of the police force in the state, the IGP called for more support for the police in order to effectively combat crime in the state.
“I have heard your request for an Area Command in Ifo and that request is hereby granted. We will not only stop at giving Area Command to Ifo, we will also give two Area Commands to the two border areas; Idiroko and Imeko.
“On the issue of manpower, lack of vehicles and operational logistics for Ogun State command, I have whispered to the CP that he should give me the list of all the needs of the command and we are going to pay attention to all of them.
“The issue of kidnapping despite the high number of checkpoints along the road and that the border areas are still porous, I want to assure that we are going to address that challenge, the CP is going to work on it.
“Whatever that we need to do to stop kidnapping in Ogun State, we are going to do it. The fact that there are few crimes being committed here and there does not affect the peaceful status of Ogun State.
“There is no state in Nigeria that is free of crime and I still maintain that one of the states that record the least is Ogun State, but that does not mean that we are going to accept the few crimes that are being committed in this state, we going to take appropriate action to ensure that we minimize the crime as much as possible,” the IGP said.
In his welcome address, the State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alamutu said Ogun remains one of the safest states in Nigeria despite having its fair share of insecurity challenges.
Alamutu said the IGP’s visit would reenergize officers and men of the command for a better service delivery.
He promised that Police in Ogun command would remain loyal and committed to ideals and vision of the force.
Egbetokun, during the visit met with Governor Dapo Abiodun and also commissioned the newly built Ogun State Police Command’s headquarters, the technical intelligence unit, as well as the complaints unit, all within the premises of the command.
The IGP is also expected to visit the four paramount rulers of Egba, Ijebu, Remo and Yewa.
