Kidnapping: LASG Partners FG, Ogun on Border Patrol

  • Assures residents of safety of lives, properties

Gboyega Akinsanmi

The Lagos State Government monday said it had partnered the federal and Ogun State governments in a strategic move to end the growing cases of kidnapping and armed robberies in its territory.

Consequently, the state government assured all its residents across the state of the safety of lives and property, which it said, was the principal reason for its existence and responsibility.
The Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Olatunji Bello, said this in a statement he issued yesterday, saying the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode “is alive to its core responsibilities of protecting the citizens.”

In the statement, Bello said the state government was working hard in conjunction with security agencies “to address the recent cases of kidnapping and armed robberies in some parts of the state.

He disclosed that security intelligence has revealed useful leads towards identifying notorious syndicates behind the heinous crimes and their accomplices. Ambode’s administration will not shirk from its function of protecting the lives and property of its citizens in every part of the state.
While reassuring citizens of their safety in the state, Bello said it was collaborating with security agencies “to put in place upgraded security measures that will guarantee safety of lives and property.

“We would like to inform Lagosians that we are saddened by the recent cases of kidnappings that appear not to be unrelenting. But we wish to assure that the government will not fold its arms and allow a few evil doers to prosper at the expense of innocent citizens.

“We are working together with both federal government and Ogun State Government in particular in the volatile areas that have been identified. We will spare no effort in bringing every criminal gang to book.

“The response of the state government will be swift, total and reassuring to the public in sending a clear signal to all and sundry that Lagos State will not tolerate any form of criminality.”
He sympathised with the families of victims in Iba and Ikorodu, urging them “to go about their normal businesses without any fear or panic as government has placed security personnel on red alert throughout the state in a bid to checkmate this menace.”

He urged Lagos residents to be very vigilant and security conscious as intelligence reports “have shown that most of these heinous crimes are perpetrated through recalcitrant elements who have infiltrated the state and are carrying out this act in conjunction with friends, family members or close associates of the victims.”

Bello restated the commitment of Ambode’s administration “to go after and suppress any act of crime and criminality in any part of the state,” enjoining residents to take advantage of the state’s toll free lines: 112 and 767 to report any case of crime or unusual/suspicious movement or strange faces in their neighbourhood to security agencies.

He explained that the recent massive security equipment and vehicles donated by the Ambode administration to security agencies to beef up security in the state, which he said, had considerably curbed armed robbery cases.

He added that the state government in consonance with the police and other security agencies in the state would do all within its means to halt the trend of kidnapping in the state and bring perpetrators to justice.

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