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Tag: Police Commissioner

  • Lagos state police command get new commissioner

    Lagos state police command get new commissioner

    Lagos state police command  has gotten a new Commissioner of Police who is expected to assume office with immediate effect.
    Fayoade Adegoke is the new commissioner  and would be replacing  Idowu Owohunwa, who was recently promoted to the rank of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police.
    .Fayoade’s posting was contained in a police wireless message obtained by pressmen on Tuesday in Lagos.
    The police wireless message dated December 11, 2023, was marked TH.5361/FS/FHQ/ABJ/T.5/103 and signed by the Nigeria Police Force Secretary, on behalf of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
    The Lagos State Police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the deployment of Fayoade to Lagos command.
    Hundeyin said the new CP “is likely to resume any moment from Wednesday.”
  • Benue police kills four bandits in Ukum LGA

    Benue police kills four bandits in Ukum LGA

    Four bandits in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State have been gunned down by the Benue State Police Command on Saturday.

     

    Police Commissioner, Wale Abass, identified those killed as Solo Orafaga, John Tyoakoso, Jude aka ‘Headboy’ and an unidentified bandit, who he said had all been terrorising Ukum.

     

    According to him, the weapons recovered from them included one Ak47 rifle, a G3 rifle, a locally made pistol as well as ammunitions and charms.

     

    Speaking to journalists at the state police headquarters in Makurdi, Abass pledged to rid the state of crime, with Governor Samuel Ortom’s support.

    The corpses of the four were displayed at the command headquarters in the presence of Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom.

     

    Ortom commended the police for their efforts, adding that his administration would do everything possible to check crime.

     

    CP Abbass disclosed that the bandits were ambushed and killed while on their way to attack a village called Gbagire, in Ukum.

    He said that apart from those killed, many others escaped with gunshot wounds.

    “The bandits were over 20”, he added.

  • Police commissioner shot during Edo cult war dies in hospital, as death toll hits 28

    Police commissioner shot during Edo cult war dies in hospital, as death toll hits 28

    The death toll from the rival cult war that caused pandemonium in Benin and its environs in Edo State on Friday has risen from 18 to 28.

    Among the 10 new casualties was the Assistant Commissioner of Police (name withheld), who was shot during the exchange of gunfire between the rival cult groups.

    According to reports, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) died on Saturday at the intensive care unit of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).

    Two other policemen, both Inspectors, who were shot along with the ACP were still receiving treatment at UBTH. But hospital sources said they were on danger list.

    The three policemen were said to have run into an ambush mounted by Aiye and Vikings cult groups while on a rescue mission in Upper Sokponba and Murtala Mohammed Way axes of Benin.

    A senior police officer in the Edo Police Command confirmed the death of the ACP.

    The casualties of the cult war were said to have included innocent residents who were going about their normal business.

    Yesterday, a medical practitioner, Dr. Maxwell Orosanye, who was attached to the Edo State Government-owned Central Hospital, Benin, was shot by gunmen suspected to be cultists.

    He was still receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital in Edo at press time.

    Orosanye was shot near Mobil filling station on Siluko Road, Benin, while his Toyota Corolla saloon car was snatched at gunpoint.

    Visits made to the hotspots of the cult war in Benin, especially Upper Sokponba, Siluko, Ibivwe, Uselu, Isihor, Iguosa and Ugbowo which hosts the Federal Government-owned University of Benin (UNIBEN) yesterday evening revealed that the residents were living in fear.

    They mostly remained indoors for fear that they could be hit by stray bullets.

    Many of the cult members were said to have embarked on house to house search for their rivals without any challenge, in spite of the heavy deployment of soldiers in Benin and its environs.

    Etinosa Osifo, father of one of the killed youths, said in an interview that two boys came to his house on Friday and invited his son for a brief discussion only to shoot him at close range and vanish from the scene.

    Many of the cultists were still openly brandishing AK-47 rifles, machetes, battle axes, broken bottles, clubs and other dangerous weapons in broad daylight, shooting sporadically throughout the night and heightening tension in Benin and its environs.

    Speaking on Saturday, the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo, said that officers and men of the command were working within existing limitations to restore normalcy to the state.

    He assured that all the criminals would soon be arrested and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.

    Kokumo said: “Just imagine what it means that three police stations along Sokponba Road, Benin were destroyed and burnt, patrol vehicles were destroyed in many other parts of Edo State.

    “All the officers and men in the burnt police stations now operate from the state police headquarters (in Government Reservation Area, GRA, Benin).

    “The peaceful #EndSARS protests were hijacked by hoodlums. The protests took a violent turn in Edo State with inmates of the two correctional centres in Benin City set free. So, what do you expect?”

  • #EndSARS: Govs should be able to hire, fire police commissioner at will – Obaseki

    #EndSARS: Govs should be able to hire, fire police commissioner at will – Obaseki

    Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has assured youths in the state of 60 per cent representation in his new cabinet as part of his administration’s efforts to redress their grievances.

    Obaseki gave the assurance on Thursday, when he held an interactive meeting with youth groups at the Government House, Benin.

    He described the Edo protest as politically motivated, following its hijack by agents allegedly determined to cause political instability in the state.

    Obaseki said: “I am worried about the level of criminality.
    “Part of the fight we had in our first term was the issue of maintaining law and order and fighting criminality.
    “Lots of these criminals hid under the cover of the godfathers who called them their infantry, lions and tigers.
    “You could see them in the last few days, the way they came out pouncing on people’s private properties.
    “The crisis in Edo is not the #ENDSARS protests but political because the government supports the #ENDSARS protests.
    “Just as we defeated them in the election, we will contain them. With my #ENDSARS people, we are going to arrest them and put them back to the zoo.”
    “Without law and order, there can’t be economic growth because no investors will come here to invest.
    According to the governor, his administration recognises the role played by youths in his re-election.
    He therefore said that his administration had plans to reward the youths with 60 per cent of appointment of youths under the age of 40 in his second tenure.
    He said his government had no problem with peaceful protests, adding, “I asked the police to give you protection but the police authorities have a choice to either obey me or not.
    “Our position as a government is to support the position of the #ENDSARS protesters because their demand is legitimate,” he said, and assured the youths that he was on their side.
    “The Judicial Panel of Inquiry is the first step to go and we have instructed that the number of members be increased to 20 to accommodate other groups.
    “The panel has 90 days and I urge you all to give evidence to the panel, which should be documented to enable us to implement its report.
    “Our security arrangements in the country must reflect our federal system because I can’t be a governor of a state and not be able to hire and fire my Commissioner of Police.
    “But the #ENDSARS has helped us start the process.
    “The Public Works Volunteer is a version of our neighborhood watch in the state.
    “We have 900 people being trained. 1,100 others will be trained after this set and another 20 persons per ward will be hired to be in charge of public safety.
    “As the governor, I will do everything within my power to have strong internal security because we need to protect ourselves,” Obaseki said.
    The meeting was attended by leaders and representatives of over 30 youth organisations in Edo.
    A representative of the protesters, Abraham Oviawe, said their demand emanated from the pain Nigerians had suffered in the hands of security operatives over the years.
    He thanked the governor for constituting the panel to investigate the excesses of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad and urged him to ensure that the panel discharged its assignment creditably for Edo people.
    Oviawe urged the police to be civil in their dealings with members of the public, while urging the police authorities to scrutinise the activities of the anti-cultism unit of the force.
    “We urge your government to re-constitute the neighborhood watch and ensure the recruitment process is open and transparent in order to assist community policing in Edo,” he said.
    Also, a representative of Civil Society Organisations in the state, Curtis Ogbebor, urged the government to arrest and prosecute those who shot and killed some protesters at Kingsquare in Benin.
    A representative of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Steven Imafidon, said that 60 per cent of victims of police brutality were students.

  • Kogi guber: PDP seeks redeployment of REC, police commissioner

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State has called for the transfer of the Commissioner of Police Hakeem Busari, and Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Prof. James Apam.

    PDP made the resolution in Lokoja Local Government after its stakeholders meeting yesterday.

    The party said removing Busari and Apam would guarantee fairness, equity and justice.

    Signed by the party Chairman in Lokoja, Abubakar Idris, the communiqué warned against deploying Dr. Amina Zakari, national commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to oversee the election.

    The party, however, passed a vote of confidence in the Nigerian Army (Records) Command and the DSS in Lokoja, saying they had lived up to their billing in the conduct of elections in the state.

    It restated its commitment to ensure victory for the party and its candidate, Musa Wada, and called on members to work for him.

  • How Police Commissioner supervised rigging of 2019 elections for APC in Jigawa – Sule Lamido

    The immediate past governor of Jigawa State and a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Sule Lamido has accused the Jigawa State Commissoner of Police Bala Senchi of supervising the rigging activities of the All Progressives Party (APC) in the just concluded elections in the state.

    He said the police boss unjustly arrested and detained over one hundred members of the PDP in the state, including his aide on new media, Mansur Ahmad, during the presidential, governorship and state of assembly elections.

    “The police framed up my media aide. They planted INEC specimen ballot papers on him on the election day. He was handcuffed and sent to prison, and his picture went viral on the internet,” Lamido, said.

    “During the elections, the police commissioner became partisan and turned to (an) evil demon unleashing terror on innocent voters for identifying themselves with the PDP. I wish he would live long to reap the evil things he has done to us. May he and his family never experience peace, in return for what he did to the people of Jigawa”

    Lamido said this late Thursday, at his residence in Dutse, the state capital, shortly after he hosted a stakeholders meeting with members of the PDP across the state, who reviewed on the outcome of the general elections in the state.

    He stated that, the police commissioner was transferred out of the state, but the governor, Mohammad Badaru, quickly reacted and ran to Abuja and halted the movement because he needed him to rig the election in favour of the APC in the state. “He has done his assignments perfectly,” Lamido said.

    He gave an instance, in Gantsa town in Buji Local Government Area, where an aged man and his wife, including two of their children studying at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, were incarcerated by the order of the police commissioner in the state just because they stood up in defence of the PDP in their locality.

    Also in Garki Local Government Area, a PDP agent was manhandled with the aide of the police after he protested an incidence of over voting in a polling unit, and the results was later recorded to the APC.

    “APC in Jigawa cannot justify the votes they got in the elections, judging by the poor performance of the governor, Mohammad Badaru in his first time in office. Jigawa only witnessed few substandard projects that can’t stand the test of time in comparison to the projects executed by the PDP led administration in the state.

    “The police manhandled and intimidated members of the PDP. They chased people and went away with PDP agents, together with the ballot box. During the elections, the police provided a security guard to an APC chieftain, Isa Gerawa, moving in a heavy motorcade of security personnel buying votes and intimidating our party members.

    “Before, during and after the elections in Jigawa, we got over five hundred reports cases of police brutality, harassment and intimidation, the police commissioner ordered that any political cases in the state must be reported to his office and that’s how he worked for the APC in the state.

    “We have petitioned the police IG and police service commission including the human right commission. We wrote to them that the police commissioner is unprofessional, ungodly and evil, he is more APC than the president, Muhammadu Buhari. He has brought so much pain and anguish to families in Jigawa and we pray to God almighty to punish him the way he punished innocent people in the state, Sule Lamido said.

  • Rampaging youth stone, injure police commissioner on the head

    Rampaging youth stone, injure police commissioner on the head

    Rampaging youth in Jalingo on Monday pelted Taraba Commissioner of Police, David Akinremi, with stones, injuring him on the head.

    The command’s spokesperson, David Misal, an assistant superintendent of police, who confirmed the incident to journalists in Jalingo, the state capital said the commissioner had gone to the Tudun Wada area of the metropolis with a team of officers to restore normalcy following reports of youths unrest.

    “He was hit on the head with a stone resulting in serious bleeding before he was rushed to the Hospital, where he was treated and discharged.

    “Since yesterday, some irate youth, armed with dangerous weapons, including cutlasses, axes and other objects, started disturbing the peace of residents around Tudun Wada and Gadan Boboji areas of Jalingo town.

    “Our men were deployed there and normalcy returned.

    “However, this morning, we got reports that the boys had come out again in large numbers, brandishing these weapons and attacking innocent citizens; the situation was so bad that the commissioner of police decided to go there himself with other officers.

    “In the course of addressing the youth to calm them down, he was stoned in the head and was immediately rushed to the hospital, where he was treated of his injuries.

    “For now, he has been discharged and is taking his rest at home.

    “As we speak, a serious operation is going on there to calm the situation and forestall further breakdown of law and order in the area,” he said.

    Misal warned that the command would not sit back and watch people take the laws into their hands by unleashing mayhem on innocent people.

    He confirmed that at least 60 persons had so far been arrested.

    “I can assure you that the command would make sure that normalcy is completely maintained in the area and the perpetrators of this crime are brought to book.

    “Let me use this opportunity to call on members of the public to always report any suspicious elements to the police promptly, with assurance that their identity would not be disclosed,” he assured.

    Jalingo has been experiencing breach of the peace in the past few weeks following frequent attacks on innocent citizens by thugs who move around at night with dangerous weapon, dispossessing people of their belongings.

    Meanwhile, commercial activities have been brought to a halt following the temporary closure of the Jalingo main market and major shops in town.