Thursday, March 28, 2024

Governors are united on community policing, says Lalong

ALL the 36 state governors are for community policing, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State said on Friday as the controversy  over the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Operation Amotekun continued.

But Lalong said desirable as such policy is in view of the security challenges across the country,local security arrangements must operate  within the ambit of the law.

Several states governments are already intensifying efforts to check brigandage in their territories.

“We discovered that all of us appeared to be talking about community policing. We have all agreed on that,” the Plateau State governor told reporters yesterday in Abuja.

But he added: “We don’t want a situation where you start doing something and the federal government says you are doing it outside the law just like we say about Amotekun.”

Lalong who is Chairman of the Governance Committee of the Progressive Governors Forum said: “It is now they (Southwest governors) are doing dialogue. If it is going to operate, it must be within the law and what is within the law as far as the governors are concerned is the issue of community policing. We all agreed on that. When you go into implementation, you will use different methods.

“I have been using community policing in my state for a long time. I am opportune to be in Jos where we have three security outfits. I have headquarters of 3  Armoured division of the Nigeria Army and Operation Safe Heaven established by the federal government for a few states. We also have Operation Rainbow.

“For us, Operation Rainbow is like community policing. While the Police and Operation Safe Heaven are answerable to the Federal Government, Operation Rainbow is answerable to the governor at any time and it is a combination of different security organisations.

“What they do is intelligence gathering and we find that very effective because if you don’t understand the intelligence, you will not even know how to tackle the security challenge. As a result of this intelligence, before anything happens, we know.

“So, we have brought out early warning signals. It is a technology deployed by America and the French government in Plateau. It covers all areas. With that, I can open my phone here (Abuja) and the early warning signal will tell me these are likely places of conflict.

“If you have that kind of technology, what do you do with it? We supported it with the establishment of a peace building agency. The agency will always take care when we know there is a conflict and their responsibility is to go into those areas and try to sort out that conflict. If it is too much for them, they will invite security. For that, we have been living in peace in Plateau.

“We must also begin to develop new technology and focus on it. Fighting crime is no longer the normal thing now because the criminals are getting more sophisticated and the security agencies must be sophisticated too. Otherwise, the efforts will go to waste.”

Lalong warned Nigerians to be wary of propaganda by Boko Haram to cause religious war in Nigeria.

Citing the recent beheading of an official of Adamawa State CAN and a   student of the University of Maiduguri from Plateau by the terrorists as examples, Lalong said: “The current issue where Boko Haram will take people and kill them, I take it as part of propaganda. When they get to that level, they can use any means to incite people into killing themselves.

“They went to Adamawa and killed a pastor and Plateau State where they  killed a student. I have been controlling people, trying to caution them because the intention is to incite them to start fighting on religious ground. When you fall into it, they will come back and start mingling within the society.

“It is unfortunate that they get students and religious leaders and start killing them. We have made a strong appeal to security agencies to go back to that place because we don’t expect them to be more superior than our security agencies.

‘Adamawa is for anything with potential to curb insecurity’

Advertisement

The Adamawa State Government says it will subscribe to any initiative capable of curbing insecurity in the state, including one modeled after Operation Amotekun.

Mr Solomon Kumanga, the Director General of Media and Communications to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, told our correspondent that the idea of replicating Operation  Amotekun in the North had not been killed by the challenge from the Federal Government.

Soon after the South-West geopolitical zone launched Operation Amotekun on the 10th of this month, the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, said the 19 northern states were working on Amotekun-like community policing.

Solomon Kumanga said of the pronouncement, “The idea has not been concretized. When it is done, we will be part of it because security for our people is the government’s number one  priority.”

Forest guards for Enugu

Following a recent rise in the  spate of crime, particularly kidnapping and armed robbery in Enugu State, the government proceeded to establish  the Forest Guards.

This was after a meeting by the Southeast Governors Forum where the decision was taken for the establishment of a regional security outfit.

A total of 1,700 personnel were recruited with each of the 17 local councils contributing 100 each.

The governor also purchased 246 Sienna vehicles installed with security gadgets for their operation.

The Forest Guards are being coordinated and guided by retired police officers led by the former Inspector General of Police, Mr Ogbonnaya Onovo.

signaturetv.org/thenation/IJM

Signature TV
Signature TVhttps://signaturetv.isitedigitals.com
Signature TV is a multi-media company, owners and operators of signaturetv.org and producers of The Signature Show on AIT and Corruption Tori. Our programmes are broadcast on the AIT Network and on Seven NTA stations across the country. We are content providers for a number of television networks and some State TV stations, with a respected 24/7, high online and offline followership. We are also Communications/Media Consultants to MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation and OSIWA.

Related Articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here
Captcha verification failed!
CAPTCHA user score failed. Please contact us!

Latest Articles