For 5 weeks towards the last conducted general elections, men of the Nigerian Police Force were able to arrest and expose various crimes committed in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
Tag: CRIME
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Council teaches youths ways out of crime
Apapa Local Government Executive Secretary, Bolaji Dada has restated the need to fight crime and other social vice in the society.
Dada said all hands must be on the deck to curtail crime, noting that unemployment is the factor responsible for it.
She said the council would do everything within its power to assist youths who are ready to embrace hard work, stressing that government will train and empower youths to enable them earn decent living.
At a ceremony to teach youths how to become useful citizens trough self employment, Dada enjoined them to be proactive in the development of the council.
The youths received items ranging from vulcanizing machines, clippers, generators, pope corn machines, hair dresser machines, sewing machines and hair dryers were urged to be proactive in making the society better.
Dada said it was better to teach them how to fish, saying that the effort will lead to multiple effects of reducing crime and enhancing the economy growth.
She said: “We have decided to move away from tokenism of doling out consumables to people. We believe such consumable be exhausted within weeks, sending their beneficiaries to the squalor where they have always been.
“Today, government should not only concentrate on erecting building and construction of roads while the welfare of the people is push to the background.”
She added that one of the best way of fighting crime is to engage the youth in productive venture, noting that the council will continue to play its role the fight to make Apapa and environs better.
“All over the world, especially in Africa, poverty has become a hydra-headed problem which must be tackled by all, using all the available resources at our disposal to nip it in the bud.
“Though this should not be left in the hands of the government alone, everyone must be involved. This includes the philanthropists, corporate bodies and very other person with the milk of human kindness,” she stressed.
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I’ll tackle crime if voted in, says Ambode
The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Lagos, Akinwunmi Ambode, has assured residents that his administration will tackle crimes to ensure security of life and property.
Ambode gave the assurance yesterday while addressing thousands of residents at the APC campaign rally in Mushin.
The APC candidate assured that his administration would create an enabling environment for residents to carry out their businesses and make a living.
“We have made Lagos safer in the last eight years.
“We will make it more secure so that you will have a 24-hour economy. So that you can move around any part of the day and night and Mushin will be a better place to live in.
“My administration will encourage community policing and you will be the ones watching over your own locality.
“We are going to have community watchers; we will have people here who will be engaged to watch over all of us and there will be peace.
“When we are able to get a safer city here people will do their jobs and business well.
“Then you can work in the day and night. Our parents will be able to work safely without fear of being robbed or molested. We want a more comfortable life for all of you.”
Governor Babatunde Fashola urged residents and APC supporters to remain calm, focused and avoid violence, despite the provocation.
Fashola said the opposition was looking for an opportunity to foment trouble and get an excuse to postpone the elections.
He said politicians who are vying for elective posts would still remain friends after the elections, urging residents to see politics as a football game in which players remain friends at the end of the game.
The governor said: “Are you not voting for your prosperity and your development now, if you fight and God forbid and you are killed, will you be able to witness the prosperity?
“Irrespective of all the seeming problems that you are beginning to see, remain calm and focused. It is provocation. They are looking for opportunity to foment trouble and excuse to postpone the elections.”
Flags were presented to the House of Assembly and House of Representatives candidates-Mrs. Funmilayo Tejuoso and Yusuf Ayinla
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Security agencies team up against crime
Security agencies in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, have assured residents of their enhanced safety, as all law enforcement units are committed to crushing criminals in the Enyimba City.
The security organisations said they are pooling their resources together to make criminality unattractive.
This was the position reached at the end of a monthly meeting involving the police, army and other paramilitary agencies to boost the existing relationship among them and enhance the web of security in the commercial city.
Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, the Aba Area Commander, ACP Peter Wagbara said that the meeting between the security agencies was in line with the visions of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adamu Ibrahim to achieve internal security within the state which serves as melting pot for most economic and business activities in the state and the entire southeast.
Wagbara maintained that for the war on crime to be fought and won, there was the need for security organisations to synergise and fight it collectively.
“We have conquered September, October and we are now in November with December in view. Like we overcame other months, we are going to conquer the remaining months like we did it in the last months.
“This monthly meeting helps us understand each other and limit the level of rivalry that sometimes exists especially among the junior officers.
The convener of the security meeting used the opportunity to seek the support of the public in crime fighting in the city as he advised communities around the commercial city to form a neighbourhood watch or local vigilante that would work in closely with security agencies in Aba and its environs to tackle crime in their areas.
Earlier in an interview, Maduako Emmanuel, Deputy Comptroller of Prisons Aba said that the meeting has helped to foster the existing relationship between his agency and others security agencies, adding that it has also provided the grounds for them to let others know areas where they (prisons) needed their assistance, adding that the meeting would bring a lot of improvement in terms of security in Aba.
“All of us, we are here to synergize to make sure that we work together. We have one goal as security agencies; to bring insecurity down and to make sure that we have security at its brim, because if we are working differently there is no way we can achieve success but if the army, navy police, civil defence and others come together we will be able to work fine.
“So, that is why we have this meeting every month to talk about lapses where we have problems and others who have more experience can educate us, then we will be able to know how we can be able to forge ahead.
“We still bring out these things so that when you have any problem; like in my place when you want to go for any arrest and I can’t handle it effectively, I can call the army, police or navy to come and assist me because all of us are gearing towards one aim of trying to curb criminality. So that is why we are here.
“Now that December is around the corner, this meeting will help us tackle crime and even traffic gridlock to make sure that the roads were free from traffic congestion. That is why we are synergising to make sure that we have a crime free festive period”, Idang John, Aba Area Commander Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), represented by Chief Superintendent of Corps (CSP), Aba North Divisional Officer, Mr. Nobel added.
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‘Why crime is on the rise’
Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere has blamed parents for the increase in crime and other social vices among youths, saying their carelessness could account for most of the youth in the society.
Speaking to the Mbaitoli women who visited him at his official residence in Owerri, Prince Madumere advised parents to look into the activities of their children so as to call them to order when they are going astray.
Eze Madumere he had received reports about serious immoral behaviours of some children of secondary school age at the grassroots.
He particularly frowned at the rate at which students indulge in the intake of cannabis and alcohol, acts which he said could lead them into doing the bidding of the bad eggs in the society.
The Deputy Governor also lamented the rising cases of immorality among adolescents; the trend which he said if not checked could metamorphose to more serious anti-social behaviours. He urged parents never to abandon their children for the pursuit of money.
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Police to reduce crime in Ember months
The Police in Lagos have stated their readiness to collaborate with other security agencies to reduce crime during the “EMBER” months.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of Operations, Mr. Emmanuel Ngwu, made the pledge after the weekly security meeting with Governor Babatunde Fashola.
Ngwu said the police and other security agencies would curtail crime during the months leading to the Christmas and New Year.
“If you are not new in Lagos you will know that each time the EMBER months arrive security agencies in Lagos begin to be proactive. This is because if you look at the population of Lagos you will see the need for the police and the armed forces to do their job and the need for every other security agency to be ready for the task ahead”, he said.
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Enugu magistrate on abduction charge dies in Prison custody
A magistrate in Enugu State Judiciary, Mrs. Ifeoma Nneji has been reportedly died inside her cell in Enugu Prison in the wee hours of Wednesday.
The deceased was said to have died of complications arising from shock.
She was remanded in Enugu prison along with her husband on Monday after they were arraigned for “conspiracy, false information and attempted murder.”
The deceased magistrate, served at Oji River Magisterial District before she was recently suspended by the State Judicial Service Commission on account of her alleged involvement in the abduction of a 9-year-old-girl.
Prison sources said that she became ill about 24 hours after she arrived the prison following her remand by an Enugu Magistrate Court for allegedly assaulting a female tenant residing in her husband’s house.
Nneji, her husband, Mr. Ifeanyi Nneji and another unnamed person living with them were said to have beaten and injured the tenant over an undisclosed squabble which resulted in the arraignment and remand of the couple.
Comptroller of Enugu Prison, Mr. Alloy Uchenna confirmed the death of the magistrate but said that the Deputy Controller in-charge of the prison was yet to brief him about what transpired.
The State Police spokesman, Ebere Amaraizu, said that Mrs Nneji and her husband were re-arraigned for another case of conspiracy, false information and attempted murder on Monday and were subsequently remanded in prison.
“They were remanded in Enugu prison custody where she died yesterday. The matter for which they were charged commenced from Abakpa Division and was later transferred to State Criminal Investigations Department, CID from where they were arraigned on Monday and the court remanded them in prison. We heard the Magistrate died on Tuesday but the cause of her death is not yet known,” the state police spokesman said.
Nneji was on March 2, 2014 arrested by the police for allegedly abducting a 9-year-old child.
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A crime buster to the rescue
Inspector Usman Abdul Dimka, the officer-in-charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Oyo State Police Command – Skynet Special Squad – is an unusual policeman, with an uncommon zeal to fight crime, especially armed robbery. This has earned him numerous awards including a presidential commendation for bravery and courage. OSEHEYE OKWUOFU writes.
Apart from possessing special instinct to detect and prevent the commission of crime, Inspector Usman Dimka stood out among his peers when he, through a selfless effort built and equipped a model police station for the Oyo State Police Command.
With modern facilities, such as CCTV cameras, furnished cell beddings, computerised offices, modern communication gadgets, floor tiles and air conditioned cells, the model police station, situated at the popular Aleshinloye market in the Southwest area of Ibadan, the state capital has not only remained the cynosure of all eyes, but the first of its kind in this part of the country.
Its inner fittings, clean and beautiful environment put the police station at par with similar facilities anywhere in the developed world and a proof that Nigeria can attain desired development and join the developed economies in spite of all odds.
Inspector Dimka has indeed carved a niche for himself, and for the Nigeria Police, an organisation which has witnessed serious image crisis over the years arising from greed, corruption and bad leadership.
In Nigeria, a country where survival is for the fittest and the resilient, Inspector Dimka had strived hard to pull resources together based on his earned reputation, that attracted a flow of good will from spirited individuals and corporate organisations to build the police station. He could have decided to channel such goodwill into personal use, but he did otherwise, by choosing to use the resources for the good of many, especially the Nigeria Police.
Of all the developing countries, Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the world and giant of Africa, is still lagging behind in the area of modern equipment, operational vehicles and other crime fighting equipment for her security agencies especially the police. Non-availability of decent and modern police stations and good working environment for members of the force are also common features of the Nigeria Police.
As it is all over the world including Nigeria, the police are a public sector service, drawing heavily from the public purse for all their activities, but the poor funding of the force in Nigeria has encouraged public spirited individuals and organisations to lend a helping hand either directly or through the efforts of such people as Inspector Dimka whose zeal for the job of policing is undiluted, knowing fully the nitty-gritty of the force.
He did his job with uncommon commitment making him a no-match for armed robbers.
In fact, many held the belief that he has a charm to detect criminals’ hideouts and a special ability to arrest robbers, but according to him, the secret behind his success is hard work, commitment and honesty.
His love for the job however, paid off when his effort was crowned on April 29, 2013 by the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan with a Presidential commendation award for bravery and courage in engaging hoodlums in series of anti-robbery operations, leading to arrests of many, recovery of arms while serving in Edo, Delta and Oyo states.
Till date, Inspector Dimka has to his credit 10 different awards as a result of his dedication, courage and bravery in bursting crimes. But the awards and accolades notwithstanding it does appear that the job of combating and nipping in the bud insurgence of crimes and other anti-social vices has just begun for the Plateau State born police officer.
Speaking at yet another award in his honour in Ibadan recently organised by Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Radio Television Theatre Workers Union (RATTAWU), in conjunction with KP Multi-Links Media Communication and Association on Theatre Practitioners (ANTP), Oyo State chapters, Dimka who has become a household name in the prevention of crimes in Ibadan since arriving the state in October 2009, said the President’s commendation and special handshake received from President Jonathan among other international laurels have taught him that hard work really pays.
“The perception of the public that policemen are not good people; the training I received from all the leaders I have served and the encouragement from my parents and colleagues alike and the training I received even outside Nigeria which later earned me laurel, continue to spur me to give my best to this nation,” he said.
The awards, according to him, “shows that people recognise and acknowledge our services in the police force and I am proud to be a police officer and will continue to offer selfless service to the community, state and the nation at large.”
On how he single-handedly foiled an eight-man robbery gang and inflicted bullet wounds on the fleeing hoodlums thereby preventing felony in Ibadan late 2011, Dimka said, “they were eight and I exchanged bullet fire with them and gunned down some of them and others escaped with bullet wounds. I was happy I achieved that feat because if it had happened the other way round, I would have been a dead person by now, so I thank God”.
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Firm fights crime with tricycles, motorcycles
It was a case of killing two birds with a stone. Provide youths with a means of livelihood and you would have helped to check crime.
That was exactly what a firm, SaveQuick Co-operative Investment, did when it distributed 10 motorcycles and the same number of tricycles to 20 youths in Onitsha, the commercial capital of Anambra State.
The President of the investment firm, Mr. Okonkwo Gilead, said they were excited about the manner in which the youth are forsaking crime and choosing to earn their keep rather than roam the streets in search of white collar jobs.
He said: ”This day, we are all gathered to celebrate our success in our first month of live transaction of our E-thrift Technology, a journey that started over five years ago. We are here to celebrate and inform the BoT members, interested partners and prospective investors that we have live records and the acceptability of our product in the market where we operate. We are here to reaffirm our vision, mission and goal.”
Okonkwo commended Mr. Peter Obi who he said has not only fought criminality to a standstill in the state but also restored the dignity of his people by providing the enabling environment for investors, thus offering employment to youths.
He said his office has introduced E-saving, E-payment, Mobile User, Online investment and trading among others, Mr. Gilead who is the inventor of the group revealed that the beneficiaries of the moveable assets were picked from their co-operative societies.
It would be recalled that SaveQuick Co-Operative Investment, on its arrival in Onitsha one year back, has gone into grassroots campaigning for people to come and have their co-operative societies registered with them as an avenue for assisting people who need help.
Today, he said, there are good testimonies that the group has delivered.
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Firm fights crime with tricycles, motorcycles
It was a case of killing two birds with a stone. Provide youths with a means of livelihood and you would have helped to check crime.
That was exactly what a firm, SaveQuick Co-operative Investment, did when it distributed 10 motorcycles and the same number of tricycles to 20 youths in Onitsha, the commercial capital of Anambra State.
The President of the investment firm, Mr. Okonkwo Gilead, said they were excited about the manner in which the youth are forsaking crime and choosing to earn their keep rather than roam the streets in search of white collar jobs.
He said: ”This day, we are all gathered to celebrate our success in our first month of live transaction of our E-thrift Technology, a journey that started over five years ago. We are here to celebrate and inform the BoT members, interested partners and prospective investors that we have live records and the acceptability of our product in the market where we operate. We are here to reaffirm our vision, mission and goal.”
Okonkwo commended Mr. Peter Obi who he said has not only fought criminality to a standstill in the state but also restored the dignity of his people by providing the enabling environment for investors, thus offering employment to youths.
He said his office has introduced E-saving, E-payment, Mobile User, Online investment and trading among others, Mr. Gilead who is the inventor of the group revealed that the beneficiaries of the moveable assets were picked from their co-operative societies.
It would be recalled that SaveQuick Co-Operative Investment, on its arrival in Onitsha one year back, has gone into grassroots campaigning for people to come and have their co-operative societies registered with them as an avenue for assisting people who need help.
Today, he said, there are good testimonies that the group has delivered.