Juliana Francis
The current Assistant Inspector General of Police, overseeing Lagos and Ogun state Commands is Mohammed Ali Ari.
He is known for his camaraderie attitude to everyone and his expertise in tactical and strategic police operations.
In fact, his operational tactics are legendary, and he is also known for detesting criminals with a passion.
But Ari smiling mien was absent during his recent visit to Ogun State Police Command.
It was gathered that his visit to the state was not for a cocktail party, but to work with the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Alamutu Abiodun Mustapha, to check galloping crimes and criminals, but most especially worrisome cases of kidnapping.
The most recent is the abduction of the immediate past Provost of Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, Dr Ayodele Adetayo Ajayi in Olodo, along Abeokuta-Ibadan Road.
It will be recalled that Ajayi was abducted alongside his wife and driver, at about 7:PM pm on Tuesday. However, the kidnappers, for reasons yet unknown, released his wife but held Ajayi and his driver captive.
This latest incident was among issues that compelled Ari to head out to Ogun State Police Command, where he vowed to work with Abiodun to flush criminals out of the state.
The spokesperson of the Ogun State Police Command, a Superintendent of Police, Omolola Odutola, said that Ari, during the one-day working operational visit to get a first-hand assessment of the kidnap of Ajayi said he was going to bring his operational skills to bear and to synergise with Abiodun for an effective and robust fighting strategy against crimes and criminals in the state.
Ari and Abiodun brainstormed techniques and strategies on how to check kidnapping in the state, if not outrightly stop it.
The fight against these criminals would also be taken to the hinterlands said Ari.
While outlining his strategies, the AIG pointed out that Policemen were too far from the locals, stressing that until policemen start mixing with villagers, there will exist a communication gap that will hinder local hunters who know the interior of the forest from giving information.
He urged policemen to cultivate the habit of synergising with other sister agencies with the ultimate goal of surmounting kidnapping in the state.
To this end, Tactical Commanders were charged to track criminals and hoodlums by raiding hideouts during the day and night time.
They were also urged to patrol suspected hideouts and to give hourly situation reports. He argued that if some of the measures given were followed, it will help in checkmating criminals and their activities in the state.
Responding to the AIG, Abiodun said: “The remote villages remain policed, but more efforts will be engineered in the areas of adequate patrolling to disperse group clustering as well as intensify intelligence gathering from locals, so as to check the recent spike in kidnapping. I promise that under my watch, syndicates and their informants who have continued to prey on the residents to kidnap for ransom will be dealt with and these criminals will not go unpunished.”
The CP also briefed the AIG that the Federal College of Education has made an official report about their colleague who was kidnapped, adding that efforts were on to rescue the victims alive.
The CP further charged: “Residents of Ogun State should go about their daily, lawful activities without cause for alarm. There is hope that perpetrators of kidnapping will be apprehended to answer for their nefarious activities.”
