WITH the authorities preoccupied with curtailing the novel coronavirus pandemic, criminals have been quick to exploit the opportunity to engage in criminal activities. All over, criminal gangs and hoodlums, in a coordinated manner, are unleashing mindless violence. Gun violence in particular is spiralling in communities across the states that are on lockdown. The security agencies, especially the police, should re-evaluate their mode of operations to protect law-abiding citizens.
Armed robbers and hoodlums are taking advantage of the loose security structure in Lagos and Ogun states to loot, assault and shed blood. Attacks on residents first escalated in the border communities of Ifo, Agbado, Akute, Abule-Egba, Meiran and Mowe. It has since spread to the metropolis. In this era of pronounced socio-economic uncertainty, the reign of terror is a double jeopardy for the victims.
It is a bitter reminder that the Nigerian state has largely failed to curtail organised crime and improve security. Instead, reminiscent of life under the Sani Abacha regime in the 1990s, there is a general breakdown of law and order. Brazenly, hoodlums dispossess passers-by of their belongings in broad daylight. Last Wednesday, robbers in their numbers stormed Anthony Village and Iju in Lagos. Though repelled by vigilantes, they vandalised vehicles and terrorised residents.
On the same day, a clash between rival gangs in Ipaja, Lagos, resulted in one death. In the Isolo, Ago, Surulere and Meiran areas and other communities of the two states, hoodlums penned impudent letters in which they threatened to return in full force. This is outrageous and requires effective police response.
Unfortunately, the police commands in Lagos and Ogun are treating this upsurge lightly. In spite of the vociferous complaints from the victims, who established vigilance units and made bonfires to ward off the attackers, the two commissioners of police are living in denial of the obvious. This is provocative, both for the victims of the attacks and the rest of society.
Hakeem Odumosu (the Lagos CP) and Kenneth Ebrimson (Ogun) did not create the present state of anarchy, but it is their sworn duty to tackle crime when it rears its ugly head. In this mayhem, they have been slow to rein in the bandits.
Really, their denial is a contradiction. Soon after the upsurge became noticeable, Odumosu and his Ogun counterpart paraded suspects of the crime spree. Ebrimson initially paraded 150 suspects and has arraigned 142 in court; Odumosu paraded 130 suspects. Their statement that they recovered 15 locally-made guns, 52 live cartridges, 42 cutlasses and axes from the hoodlums are glaring proofs that they are hiding behind a finger. Cultists or not, it is alarming that such a high number of criminals are walking the streets unchallenged during a lockdown.
Their inconsistent statements of a crime-free lockdown is exposed by the reaction of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, who ordered special police teams of the Police Mobile Force, Intelligence Response Team and Special Tactical Squad to reinforce security in both states. Surprisingly, even the Police High Command is downplaying the severity of the lawlessness. The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Babatunde Ogunyanwo, is wrong to say that “we need to advise ourselves that Nigerians should not be apprehensive over rumours. A lot of these things are just based on rumours. We need people to confirm information before they start spreading rumours around.” Worsening violence reflects the grinding poverty ravaging now as a result of the lockdown.
The police should have anticipated an upsurge in crime during the lockdown. This is the time to take extraordinary security measures because criminals will surely devise new means to wreak havoc on the helpless citizens with the excuse of being hungry.
Since the lockdown has been renewed, Odumosu and Ebrimson should re-strategise to protect these communities. The numerous security personnel enforcing the lockdown should be effectively deployed. This is the time for motorised patrol, intelligence-led policing and the deployment of technology. Officers need to be able to access their environment rapidly and leverage technology as they pursue public safety, scale up their successes and get deeply involved in their communities. Many of the more than 150,000 police officers guarding VIPs should be deployed in vulnerable communities. Patrol cars stationed at strategic points in Lagos on a 24-hour basis need to move around now.
The police commands should rely on undercover tactics to detect the dens of the miscreants, raid identified black spots, recover the weapons and apprehend the actors. The police should utilise the lockdown-induced traffic-free roads to respond swiftly to emergencies day and night.
For now, there is a crisis of confidence between the public and the police in the two states. The police have to move beyond circulating the cell-phone numbers of the divisional police officers and the control rooms to rebuild it. The assurance will be doubly sure if the police respond promptly to distress calls, which they are not doing for now, as the victims allege.
The President, too, appears unmoved. While the idea of state police is an anathema to him, promises to establish and fund community police system look a long way from coming to fruition. In a devolved system, the local police structure would have delivered on the objective of securing lives and property. Now that hoodlums have undermined the security structure once again, it is imperative for Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the governors and the National Assembly to congregate post-COVID-19 pandemic, to constitutionally devolve policing in Nigeria.
There is the need to increase the likelihood that an offender will be caught to prevent crime occurring. In the meantime, government agencies, businesses, communities and shopping complexes should install CCTV cameras on their premises. Through this, the security agencies would have easily identified the hoodlums looting shops and robbing people in their neighbourhoods.
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