By; RAYMOND TEDUNJAYE Lagos
The acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun has assured Nigerians that the menace of banditry, kidnapping and other high profile criminals will soon be subdued.
He however, urged Nigerians to be patient, just as he asked for more time, saying the action would be felt across the country.
Egbetokun, who gave the assurance in Lagos on Wednesday when he inaugurated the Complaints Response Unit (CRU) at the Lagos State Police Command, noted that there has been significant progress in the area of security since he assumed office.
The IGP emphasised that the police has been making efforts to reduced crime to the barest minimum, adding that the criminals terrorising Abuja Kaduna road, South East and other parts of the country will soon be demystified.
” Those terrorising Abuja-Kaduna road, we are coming for them, I want Nigerians to give us time as they would soon see our actions in everywhere parts of Nigeria.
“Today we have launched CRU, we would be taken all these things one after the other. The CRU will promote transparency, we want to build confidence in the mind of the public, we also enhanced public collaboration to achieve all these and whoever that have complaint now have a place to lodged complaint.
“I want to assure Nigerians that we want to make the CRU and other parts of the command functional and the officers that will man the unit will be professional and will be train regularly to be updated.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Idowu Owohunwa said the establishment of the Complaints Response Unit in the Command is in line with the provisions of Sections 131-133 of the Police Act, 2020 and in compliance with the directive of the IGP, lead to establish the (SCRU) as a framework for promoting Police-Citizens’ accountability and as a center for the receipt of complaints on police officers’ service inadequacies from the public, coordinate immediate response, facilitate the investigations and disciplinary processes where necessary, and render feedbacks to the citizens.
He also said the crime profile of the state is further accentuated by the prevalence of illegal firearms proliferation, and illicit drug abuse and trafficking, hardly does a day pass by without the ever vigilant operatives of the command recovering weapons and illicit drugs of various descriptions at stop and search points, raids of black spots, and other operational engagements with all such recoveries linked to the perfection of crimes across the state.
For the records purposes, we are proud to note, the IGP, that the establishment and commissioning of the Lagos State Complaint Response Unit positions the Lagos State Police Command as the first and, so far, the only Command of the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT to give effect to the provisions of the Police Act 2020 and the directive of the IGP in this regard.
“The most worrisome in Lagos State is a noticeable trend that indicates an increasing local expertise in the fabrication of various types of firearms including replicas of foreign made pistols, AK47 and other assault rifles. This trend, coupled with the threat of cultism, projects a potent danger to the security space of the State and if nothing drastic is done by all strategic State actors and the citizens to complement the efforts of the Police in rolling back the dangerous tide before it gets out of hand.”
While, Barrister Femi Falana, SAN warned police officers that torture has become a serious issue now, especially in a case where a suspect dies in the course of investigation.
He said, very soon chief Magistrate will visit all police stations in Nigeria and such Magistrate is empowered by the law to grant a detained suspect bail.
“Section 6 of the Police Act says every police station shall have a lawyer assigned to it to monitor human rights complaints. I want to assure all police officers that anybody who files complaints against them on lawful way I will be there to defend you. I also want to thank the IGP for obeying court order on cases won by some police in various courts.”
