Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Monday said the state government with immediately overhaul the formation of Operation Thunderstorm, the special taskforce dedicated to fighting violent crimes in the state.
Governor Obaseki made this known at a security town hall meeting in Ubiaja, where the governor unveiled new measures the state government is adopting to tackle attacks on innocent Edo people.
This followed the killing of a 17-year-old undergraduate of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma (AAU), Akhere Ojierakhi; a toddler and a secondary school student, Victor Momodu.
The Governor on Monday also visited the families of the three persons killed by alleged bandits in Ugboha, Esan South East Local Government Area, to commiserate with them.
He strongly condemned the actions of the assailants and promised that the state will spare no resources in fishing them out for prosecution.
While pledging support of the state government to the families of the victims in their struggle to overcome the loss of their relatives, he reiterated his earlier directive to security agencies to apprehend the bandits within seven days.
At the town hall meeting, Obaseki said 36 patrol vans have been approved to security agencies to patrol the 18 local government areas of the state, with each local council receiving two patrol vehicles each.
Addressing elders from the senatorial district at the security town hall meeting as well as women, representatives of Hausa community and youths on plans to ensure that the attacks on innocent people are not allowed to happen again, Obaseki said:
“We will apprehend the people who committed this heinous crime and we shall prosecute them and bring them to justice.
“We are also deploying economic development initiatives to combat this crisis. With these initiatives that I have for this state and Esan land, I cannot allow these atrocious acts to persist.”