Rebecca Ejifoma
With the uncertainty trailing the outcome of the February 25 elections, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Idowu Owohunwa, has tasked security outfits to embrace the rule of law.
Owohunwa made this remark at the security meeting with critical stakeholders in the state yesterday following the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly elections.
While conceding that violence and threats do not represent acceptable options in a democracy, Owohunwa reminded the police and other law enforcement agencies of their sacred and statutory mandate to deploy all assets within the law to stabilise the internal security order if wise counsel does not prevail.
He said: “I trust, however, that working together we shall achieve our vision for a peaceful process and a secure Lagos without violence. For in violence, the citizens will always be the victims.
“We should be determined to prevent this as history has proven over and over again that concerns are best resolved through engagements, rationality, and within the dictates of the rule of law and not by violence.”
According to the commissioner of police, the meeting was to review current security developments in the aftermath of the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections in the state, the tension and wide apprehension emanating.
“This has become imperative granted that from the police operational perspective, since the conclusion of the exercise on Saturday, 25th February, we have responded to not less than seventy security-related callouts by Lagosians,” he added.
Owohunwa emphasised that nearly 80 per cent of such presumed distressed calls were false feedbacks informed mainly by apprehension and misinformation.
He added that the calls were fueled by fake news from elements bent on feasting on the post-election tension to destabilise peace and order.
He, therefore, appealed to media practitioners to work with the police by resisting the urge to place their media assets at the disposal of fake news purveyors and destabilising elements.
“This is a sacred duty you all owe to Lagosians.
“While all these efforts are being emplaced, 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,” he said
