THE Ugonobas have never celebrated the Christmas and New Year festivals in the last five years the way they did with such lavish fanfare during the year just ended 2015.
“I could not hide my joy that my two sons who have refused to come home in the last six years came home with their families to celebrate Xmas and New year with us as we used to every year,’’ elated 85-year old Pa. Ugonoba told his listening guests, lifting one of his grand children up with excitement.
Tony, Pa Ugonoba’s eldest child, who lives in Germany with his family said “we have always wanted to come home to celebrate with papa but the stories we hear about the insecurity have always gotten us scared.
“But we decided to come this time around following the cheery news from some of our friends and associates that the law enforcement agencies are doing pretty good to secure the state for people to live in ,’’ Tony told a group of his excited friends at a corner of the compound, savoring a bottle of beer.
The scenerio above was the situation of Edo State where scary crime statistics could hold anyone spell bound with news of incidences of kidnap cases, cultism and armed robbery were been reported every other hour in the media.
The high level of criminality especially, kidnap cases, did not abate even with the traditional institution’s intervention where some of the known top “Ayelala” worshippers , went round some major streets with their fearful red regalia within the Benin metropolis invoking curses on anyone who dared to still involve themselves in the
notorious act.
Such was the situation in the state until September 2015 when a new Commissioner of Police , Chris Ezike, took the mantle of leadership with a pledge to give criminal elements a fight for their money.
After six months on assumption of office, Ezike, true to his words, took the fight to the criminals and have arrested over 100 suspected criminals, including kidnappers, rapists and cultists, recovered over 32 sophisticated guns with several ammunition.
One of his major breakthroughs was the arrest of three persons alleged to have been involved in the dastardly Igara bank raid in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of the state on 3, November, 2015.
Yet, the CP, with a sense of modesty, attributed the achievement to cooperation he received from members of the community.
“Hunters and vigilance groups were instrumental to the great success recorded by the command in crime reduction in 2015.
The CP said on assumption of office, he quickly identified the need to adopt a strategy that would assist the command in fighting crime in the state.
“Our acts which shifted from arms and ammunition to community-based policing assisted a lot to bring a reduction of criminal activities since assumption of office.
“My interaction with community leaders in the 18 Local Government Areas of the state brought a synergy between the command and the community where everybody now see themselves as stakeholders in the act of policing.
“Ours was to make the environment better, provide the needed fire power, provide the support to encourage the people provide the vital information that led to activation of our strategy and success was the result.
“We identified the hunters and the vigilance groups and encouraged the Enogies to help us reach out to the people in the area of information.’’
“We also identified problems of pressure points and we then deployed specifically to get specific results.
“We quickly identified that the bye-passes have acquired a notoriety for criminal activities, and we deployed 13 vehicular strategic intervention that it became difficult for the hoodlums to operate with impunity in those areas.
The CP said “our success at Igarra was the icing on the cake with quotum of arms that came off the hoodlums and the quotum of unexplosive devices that came of the asernal of the hoodlums accounted for the calm witnessed during the yuletide in Edo North in particular and the state in general,’’ he said.
According to him, “the statistics will come out later. But I want to say that the success was robust and all thanks to the overwhelming and robust media and public support.
He disclosed that the arrest of the kingpins behind the kidnap and murder of the late Prof. Paul Erie of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, at Igbanke, had practically neutralized the kidnap network in the state.
“Right now, the culprits are in custody while we are only waiting for the advice of the State Director of Public Prosecution to arraign them in court,’’ he said.
On his earlier warning of officers and men of the command to desist from participation in cultism, Ezike disclosed that“ several police officers are presently under investigation over their alleged involvement in cult related activities in the state.
“It is true that a lot of officers are under investigation based on suspicion. But you know that suspicion, no matter the quotum, can not be used against anybody except we are able to establish a case against them.
“But I can tell you that since these people now know that they are under the watch list, there is a renewed efforts among officers and men of the command towards duty, knowing that they can be moved or sanctioned when found guilty.
“Previously, there was this lackadaisica attitude that tended to give some of the officers out as sympathizers of cult groups.
“But as I speak, everybody is on his or her toes, knowing that what applies to the cultist will apply to any one caught,’’ he said.
Speaking on the rape cases, the CP disclosed that the Edo Police command had established a Family Unit to assist rape victims to be properly integrated into the society without undergoing any psychological trauma.
He said the unit, located outside of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), at the police command, “is to give the victims and their families some level of privacy when lodging their complaints.’’
The commissioner said officers who man the unit were trained by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime to treat victims with dignity and self respect.
“We have moved the unit out of the CID to create a level of privacy for them because families are shy to talk about the incidents.
“The officers are trained to handle these cases with the utmost care and treat victims with human dignity why helping them to fit into the society without much psychological trauma.
“We, therefore, encourage victims to come out and lodge their complaints while the command continues to ensure the society is rid of people like the rapists’’, he said
He however, appealed to parents to always keep close watch over their wards for signs that might give a hint of any violation for quick response.
Ezike also at a recent interview session said “the command has also adopted a strategy that it will unfold to cultain an form of hooliganism prior, during and after the governorship election this year.
“This strategy will be in addition to the one already in place because we will never relax our operational strategies to give any loophole for criminals to get a breather so that the people can now sleep with their eyes closed,’’ he said.
Kevin Okunzuwa is a Journalist and writes from Benin.