Fifty-four Assistant Police Commissioners (ACPs) have been deployed as heads of intelligence units zonal and state Police commands nationwide.
The posting is to “improve and enhance the effectiveness of the Intelligence Department at every level of the Police Force as a panacea to addressing the crime rate in the country.”
Force Spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi said in a statement yesterday that Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun directed the officers to “deploy all intelligence-based assets in combating crimes and criminality in their respective areas of responsibility.”.
Egbetokun also charged them to “entrench professionalism and apply their wealth of experience in the course of discharging their duties towards strengthening the already existing intelligence architecture of the Force.”
In another statement, Adejobi reminded members of the public that self-kidnapping remained a punishable offence.
He said the Police have “observed incidents of self-kidnapping in various locations, with suspects apprehended in Lagos and Abuja.”
The Force spokesman said: “In Lagos, a couple was arrested for an alleged self-kidnapping scheme aimed at obtaining a N5 million ransom recently.
“The husband, Doubara David Yabrifa, a 53-year-old technician, and the wife, Regina Yabrifa, a 48-year-old body massager and bone setter, were apprehended after a family member reported the purported kidnapping.
“The couple confessed to planning the self-kidnap to raise N3 million to purchase a property in Badagry, Lagos. The husband justified the act, citing financial difficulties and lack of support from relatives. Both were arrested and subsequently charged to court.
“One Albarka Sukuya of Jenta Apata, Jos, has been notorious for staging his kidnap on several occasions and received ransoms from unsuspecting members of the community in Plateau State.
“Similarly, on January 20, 2024, a young man, Nnamdi Agu, faked his kidnap in Abuja in an attempt to defraud one of his family members who reside around River Park Estate, Abuja, to make money to pay for his personal pleasures.
“The Police, in a swift response, foiled the staged kidnapping and arrested the suspect. It is obvious that the suspect and many others leverage on the prevailing instances of kidnapping and plan to engage in such criminal and deceptive acts of staged or self-kidnapping to make money.
“The Force hereby cautions members of the public to be wary of this trend while those with intent to venture into these criminal acts should desist as the police will leave no stone unturned to cause such suspects to face the full wrath of the law.”
*Unpainted taxis, buses to be banned in FCT
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike says the FCT Administration will soon ban unpainted taxis and buses in Abuja and its suburbs.
Wike told reporters yesterday that the move was to stem ‘one chance’ incidences and kidnappings in the FCT.
‘Once chance’ involves criminals posing as taxi drivers and their cohorts to rob, assault, and sometimes murder their unsuspecting passengers.
Wike said: “We are not going to allow vehicles that are not painted with FCT colour and registered by the FCTA in the territory.
“That way, you know the driver is certified by the FCT and the buses and the taxes were also approved by the FCT.
“When this is done, you as the passenger will not take the risk of entering any vehicle that you don’t even know.”
He added that Uber operators would also need to register to operate in FCT.
The minister expressed concern that the FCT does not have an official terminal where residents could go and board commercial buses.
On kidnappings, Wike urged the residents to always provide vital information to help security agents check the menace.
He also charged the six Area Council chairmen to strengthen the local vigilance teams in their areas.
He spoke at a security town hall meeting with stakeholders and residents of Kwali Area Council in Kwali.
Promising to ensure a swift deployment of new security vehicles, the former Rivers State governor charged the council chairmen to recommend two more roads, in addition to the earlier ones listed by them for reconstruction.
“We will not abandon you. We will make sure we develop the area councils. Before the end of the tenure of President Tinubu, you will see a lot of infrastructure going on in the area councils,
“We won’t abandon any project. If we don’t have the money, we won’t embark on any project,” the minister said.
*NSCDC to activate intelligence architecture in FCT
The Commandant of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja Command, Olusola Odumosu has charged officers and men of the FCT Command to tackle the security challenges in the territory by deploying intelligence architecture.
“Criminals are not ghosts, they are members of the various communities we live in.
“We must therefore intensify efforts by fully activating our intelligence architecture to identify them and ensure they are brought to book,”.Odumosu told officers and men of the command.
He said that the influx of bandits into communities located in the hinterlands and the fringes of the FCT was due to porous borders.
