Uromi Bank Robbery: Time to Allow State Police, Anenih, Imasuangbon Say

Adibe Emenyonu

Two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State, Mr. Ose Anenih and Kenneth Imasuangbon, yesterday stressed the need for the federal government to allow states set up state police formations.

Both spoke against the backdrop of last Tuesday robbery attack on four banks in Uromi headquarters of Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State.

In a statement in Benin City yesterday, Anenih said it was heart-wrenching that the state, and Nigeria at large, have been crippled by rising insecurity.

He attributed the rising insecurity to not just an absence of morality and conscience in among criminal elements; but also a failure of the current security architecture in the country to curtail the excesses of the criminals.

“My position on the need to decentralise Police operations in Nigeria with the creation of State Police is well documented. The only way we can successfully fight crime locally is to adopt the most effective strategy of local policing with local and community members in charge of securing their community through state police.

“Nigeria today needs to restructure our security framework. State governors need to be able to control their own local state police forces. Regional security networks like Amotekun need to be given legislative teeth to combat armed bandits successfully”, Anenih declared.

On his part, Imasuangbon, popularly known as ‘Rice man’ said a well-funded state police would allow intelligence gathering and possible prevention of crime before it occurs.

He also called on the citizens not to leave the work of policing solely alone for the police, noting that citizen participation in security would have prevented the easy escape of the armed Robbers unchallenged.

Imasuangbon who spoke from the United State of America, also commiserated with victims of the attacks and people of Uromi.

He said the coordinated attacks showed that the armed robbers carried out diligent intelligence on the area.

He called on locals to always give accurate and timely information to the police whenever they suspected any suspicious movement.

According to him, ” From what I saw from the short video clip on robbery in the social media it was clear that the robbers had a field day. It is time for the citizen to be actively involved community policing and intelligence gathering.

“As citizens we should take a cue from what is happening in Ukraine where courageous citizens rise up in defence of their country against Russian military.

“The Edo State government is doing its best to curb insecurity in the state. There is need for all of us to support the State to fight crime because Edo State belongs to all of us.

“The horror of the Uromi attacks is a warning to all of us that the time to allow state police is now. We will not allow criminals run us out of our communities as being witnessed in other parts of Nigeria.”