The inspector general of police Mohammed Adamu says kidnappings, banditry, armed robberies have decreased.
He said this while addressing state house correspondents on Thursday in Abuja.
The IGP emphasized that the constant dialogue, negotiations and various forms of swap deals entered with bandits and stakeholders have led to a remarkable decrease in kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery across the country.
IG Mohammed said he is very optimistic that with the various strategies deployed, the results are positive, adding that this quarter shows positive signs of stability in terms of security.
The IGP said quote “What we have done apart from the peace initiative and the dialogues that we came up with through organization of security summit, if you remember we went to the Northwestern zone of this country.
“We sat down with the traditional rulers and all the governors and the leadership of Miyetti Allah and they identified some of the challenges that are fuelling kidnapping and banditry.
“Those challenges were looked into to the extent that the bandits and kidnappers have decided to release their captives and surrendered their arms, that has contributed and also those that have refused to accept the peace initiative.
“We have been able to identify their camps especially Abuja-Kaduna road and along Birnin Gwari Niger axis and we went to the camps of these kidnappers and we dislodged some of the camps”.
The IGP explained further “swap deal was similar to the amnesty programme offered by the administration of former President Umaru Yar’Adua when militants in the Niger Delta took toll on oil facilities in their domain. You will recall that
Some 25 Fulani women, men, and children held by the Yan Sakai since last April were recently released to the Commissioner of Police in the state, Usman Nagoggo who had explained that the exchange was part of the agreement reached with bandits in the state, adding that the captives would be handed over to Governor Bello Matawalle and would be kept in safe custody until the bandits release their captives.
The IGP corroborated all his claims with statistical evidences The IGP added quote “For instance, in June, 2019, a total of one hundred and eleven (111) murder cases were reported nationally, while it reduced to ninety-nine (99) in July and eighty (80) in August.
“One hundred and eighty-three (183) armed robbery incidents were reported in June, with the rate dropping to one hundred and twenty-seven (127) in July and ninety-six (96) in August, 2019.
” things that we take into consideration, you give out something to get something’.
“And this peace initiative has not started with the bandits in the North Western part of this country, if you remember some years back we were having issues in the Niger Delta and those issues kinetic actions could not solve the problem until amnesty and peace initiative came up and what we had had in Niger Delta had gone.
“So, I think part of the strategy to deal with challenges in terms of either security or war, there is peaceful negotiation too. So it is not that you are a bandit and on the course of the banditry you committed crime you must be punished when there is peace initiative going on. If you refused to accept the peace initiative, of course, you have to face the consequences”.
Mr Adamu noted that in the FCT for instance, Closed Circuit Television have been placed at about 20 different points where they monitor on daily basis happenings within the FCT.
“We are expanding it to cover the remaining areas. So one of the strategies to stop all this type of crime whether it is car theft or burglary or anything that has to do with theft in the city is the use of CCTV and constant patrol for prevention,” he noted.
The IGP provided basis for the security meeting and he said quote “We just finished security meeting and we have noticed within this quarter that the security situation in the country is stable, we make comparism of what has happened in the previous quarters and this quarter and we saw that there is tremendous decrease in kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery and even acts of cultism”.
“You can see the situation in Northwest, banditry has reduced tremendously, kidnapping also has gone down and we have statistics to back it, having noticed that, we have been charged by Mr President to do more”.
“He wants to see a mere zero crime society in the whole of the country. So we have been charged to do more than what we are doing now in fact, in the whole of the country.
“We have also been charged to increase security along the pipelines to make sure that crude oil theft is stopped completely because the loss that the country is facing in that area is not tolerated. So we have changed to increase our security activities in that direction to make sure that crude oil theft is stopped completely”
“It is like comparison per se, but giving an example of how negotiation and dialogue can bring peace. Even in terms of war, you go into dialogue so as to achieve a certain level of peace, that is what I am trying to say. So if dialogue can bring peace, why do you have to use force, that is what I am just trying to say”.
© Control TV
