By; RAYMOND TEDUNJAYE, Lagos
Not less than 70 security-related call outs have been responded to by the police in Lagos State since the conclusion of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections on Saturday February 25, 2023.
Of the calls, eighty per cent of the distress calls were found to be informed by false feedbacks that were largely informed by apprehension and misinformation, fueled by fake news from elements that seem to be bent on feasting on the post-election tension to destabilise the peace and order in Lagos State for inexplicable reasons.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police Idowu Owohunwa made the disclosure on Wednesday at a security meeting with critical stakeholders held at POWA Hall, Ikeja.
Owohunwa however, said that few instances that turned out to be real were largely attempts by misguided local urchins to threaten citizens at specific locations.
He added that such were localized, uncoordinated, and unpremeditated and were all promptly mitigated by the Police, while several arrests were made.
” In addition, we also upscaled our deployments across all identified flashpoints and vulnerable localities while also sustaining patrols and visibility policing across the public space in order to reassure Lagosians of their safety and deter possible mischief makers from manifesting any plan that might be inimical to peace and security across the State”, he added.
The police Commissioner emphasised that a major challenge remains the genuine fear of crime by Lagosians on the one hand, and the manipulation of the media space by faceless elements to spread fake news that could fuel apprehension, sense of insecurity, and engender major security threat.
Owohunwa said he would base his policing strategy on the principle of inclusivity, trust, public consent, collaboration and bridging of the gap between the Police and the citizens for optimal and cost-effective law enforcement service delivery.
” Indeed, by involving the policed communities and strategic players in the policing decision making process, we are merely giving effect to Robert Peels Principles of Policing which emphasise that ‘the people are the police and the police are the people’.
” The import of this, therefore, is that while deployment of lethal response to policing might be statutorily permissible to enforce public security, the option of prevention through meaningful communal engagement remains, for my police leadership, the most preferable model.
” Indeed, I want to benchmark my leadership as Commissioner of Police, Lagos State not on the number of violence I am able to suppress, but on the number of threats I am able to prevent and the depth of the trust and partnership I am able to perfect with the citizens and strategic stakeholders towards proactively protecting the lives all Lagosians regardless of social, religious, gender or political persuasions and in guaranteeing peace in the Public space”, the police Commissioner emphasised.
He therefore, called on the stakeholders to collaborate with the police towards dousing the current security tension across the state, and to present a common front in confronting the real enemies of the people and the state who are the criminal elements that are bent on threatening our valued peace, security and livelihood, and discourage subversive agents that trigger and disseminate unfounded fake news in order to deepen tension and engender discord and expose the stable public disorder to risks.
