The Lagos State Government on Tuesday warned that any building used as hideouts by kidnappers, vandals and other criminal elements in any part of the State would henceforth be confiscated and taken over by government.
The State Government, while vowing that it would henceforth scale up enforcement of restriction of commercial motorcycles, popularly called Okada, on certain routes and ban on street trading, said security agencies have been placed on red alert and that there shall no longer be any hiding place for criminal elements in any part of the State.
Rising from the monthly State Security Council Meeting chaired by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, the government said it had resolved to henceforth embark on massive and aggressive confiscation of properties used as hideouts by criminal elements in the State.
The State’s Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, who briefed journalists at the end of the meeting alongside heads of all security agencies in the State, said the decision of government followed recent security threats in the State, and the need to take strong and decisive action to address the situation.
According to Owoseni, “The take away for today after the Security Council Meeting is for us to look at all the strategies that we have been employing in tackling the security challenges that we had in the State and to further strategise with the view to sustaining those measures that would put all the criminal elements in check and the Security Council of the State has come out to let our people know emphatically that the State is more poised at tackling all the criminal challenges and making sure that all the criminal elements that are going about in the State will not be allowed any free reign; they will not be given freedom of space to practice any of their criminal acts.
“There is no hiding place for criminal elements again in the State and as we get them, they would be made to face the full wrath of the law. In addition to that, the Council resolved that any structure or any places of hiding that criminal elements are using in the State, the State will not hesitate, in the interest of the public, to take over those safe havens, structures or houses that these criminal elements are using as hiding places to perpetrate their criminal activities.”
The CP added that the Council also resolved that in as much as government had been enforcing the Okada restriction with human face, the law would henceforth be scaled up to achieve the purpose of its enactment.
He said: “The State still want to use this opportunity to further enlighten the public on the need to observe those laws that have been made in order to make life easy for the good people of Lagos.
“The two particular ones that we have looked at is the restriction of the commercial motorcycles to certain routes in the State and of course the activities of street traders. What we want people to know is that the State is not sleeping on its enforcement duties but government is just trying to be responsible in the way these laws are enforced.
“The Security Council wants us to seize this opportunity to let the people know that these laws are made to be complied with and that we will not stop at making sure that they are enforced as they are supposed to be, and that elements that contravene these laws would also be made to face the law.”
He debunked insinuations as to whether there were challenges in enforcing the laws, saying that government was only trying to enforce the law with human face and urged the people to cooperate with government.
Owoseni also advised criminal elements in the State to turn a new leaf and get themselves meaningfully engaged, as there is no hiding place for them in the State.
He further charged residents to be security conscious, saying that security starts with the people.
Meanwhile, traditional rulers under the aegis of Lagos State Council of Obas and Chiefs on Tuesday have commended efforts of Ambode and security agencies on the successful rescue of the Oniba of Iba, Oba Goriola Oseni.
The Oba of Lagos, HRM Rilwan Akiolu I, who led the traditional rulers to the Lagos House, Ikeja, said he and his colleagues were on a “thank you” visit to the Governor to commend him for the immense role he played towards the successful rescue of the Oniba of Iba.
He said the efforts of the security agencies, coupled with the valuable information provided by Nigerians came in handy in the investigation process.
“First of all we should thank God almighty for sparing our lives to enable us see today and bringing one of us back home, Oba Oniba who was kidnapped.
“We’ve come to say a big thank you to the Governor of Lagos State, the Commissioner of Police, DOC 81 Division, the SSS and all other security forces and the entire Lagos state and Nigerians in general for the valuable information given to the police, which led to the successful operation which brought our colleague back,” Akiolu said.
He however urged traditional rulers in the State to see the incident as a call for greater attention to be paid to security, noting that the business of protecting lives and property should not be left to the security agencies alone.
“But honestly as I told my brother Obas, all of us will have to go back and rearrange our security architecture. All hands must be on deck, everyone must assist the government. That’s why in my palace, people accuse me, but I told them that well, maybe because I was a policeman.
“It is very necessary. We are happy because the governor did very well and the commissioner of police. All the security agencies, even the navy, they did all that they could do but we still have to be at alert. Everybody must be prepared like the motto of the Boys Scout says; we are not going to take things for granted now.
Akiolu also warned vandals and kidnappers to steer clear from the State, saying that the security apparatus in the State has been fortified to wage war against every form of criminality anywhere in the State.
“It is in their interest to desist and look for other legal ventures to make ends meet. The mere fact that the economy appears not to be okay does not mean that you resort to criminality. They should stop, not just kidnapping, but any form of criminality, no religion accepts such. Everybody is at alert now, we are on their toes now and with the encouragement given by the Chief of Naval Staff, the NSA and the IGP they will be chased down to anywhere they are”, he said.
Responding, Ambode said that the State Government after learning of the incident deployed its security intelligence to unravel the circumstances surrounding the kidnap of Oba Oseni.
“At the initial stage, when the Oba was kidnapped, it appeared as if government was not doing anything. That was actually not the case. It was not just a sacrilege in Yorubaland, but the traditional institution was indeed desecrated. So, we needed to dig into what really happened to reach a logical conclusion,” he said.
Ambode while commending Oba Akiolu and other members of the traditional institution in the State for the support and concern during the period, assumed them that such incident would never occur in the State again.
“We will now pay greater attention collectively to the security of our traditional rulers. We need to increase security especially for those rulers in the riverine areas. Whatever it is that the Council of Obas must do, must be done to strengthen the security in that area, but there must be cohesion and unity amongst us.
“Anything that will bring about peace and make the State progress is our priority and the security of lives and property has always been the priority of this government,” the governor said.
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