The Edo State Police Command has described the recent Lagos-Benin road abduction as an “isolated incident”, assuring travellers that security operatives maintain a firm grasp of the route.
The Public Relations Officer of the Edo State Police Command, Eno Ikoedem, gave the assurance during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief
“Once in a while, we have isolated incidents like the unfortunate incident that occurred on April 18, but I can assure you that the command has a firm grasp of security along that expressway,” Ikoedem said on Wednesday’s edition of the morning show.
Last week, gunmen ambushed a bus going from Lagos to the eastern part of the country along the Lagos-Benin road.
The vehicle was carrying five people when the incident happened. The assailants gunned down the driver. While a lady was rescued and rushed to the hospital with a gunshot injury, three passengers are still in captivity.
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The incident raised concerns over the safety of major roads across the country, but the police spokesperson has doused tensions over the state of the route.
“We have done a lot of deployments. Like I said, we do periodic assessments of this strategy on how it’s working effectively and the loopholes that we are having, so we can do a redeployment; that’s what we do periodically,” she said.
“We have a lot of meeting points on that express. Anybody travelling along that express can attest to the fact that there is a heavy presence [of security operatives] on the express. That’s one of the proactive measures that we have done amongst many others.”
Ikoedem also stated that they have swung into immediate action to rescue the victims.
“As I sit here now, we have the division, not just that division; we have all neighbouring divisions under the Commissioner of Police’s direction, including the area commanders that share boundaries with all the forests in that area on a rescue mission at the moment.
“We are also collaborating with our sister agencies; we have the Nigerian military, vigilantes, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the local hunters also in this rescue mission, and in less than no time, we will get the bad guys, and we will also see to the safe rescue of the victims,” she assured.
Cultism, A Thing Of The Past
She also spoke about the police’s efforts to combat crime in the state, adding that cultism has become a thing of the past in the area.
“Cultism is now a thing of the past in Benin City, I can assure you,” Ikoedem said.
According to her, it was made possible by the Edo State Police Command Commissioner, Monday Agbonika, when he assumed office.
“In his first activity, he did a survey, and after finding out that cultism is one of the major problems we have in Benin City, or we had in Benin City, he started a lot of strategies. The strategies resulted in some bold moves, and I speak to you now; we have not recorded any case of cultism in a long period of time in Benin City,” she said.
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