AIG rates cultism, kidnapping high in Lagos state

Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG in- charge of Zone 2 Command, comprising Lagos and Ogun States, Kayode Aderanti, yesterday , rated cultism and kidnapping as the most common high profile crimes in Lagos state, calling on officers and men to step up on their games with a view to checkmating the trend. Aderanti who gave the assertion while addressing men and officers at the command’s headquarters in Ikeja, during his maiden operational visit to the Command, said “ It is pertinent to note that there is an increase in cult related activities in the State. We cannot fold our arms and watch cultists destroy our communities. We must stand up to them, take up our responsibility and make sure their effrontery and bravado is reduced to the barest minimum. It is no longer news that perhaps the commonest high profile crime today is kidnapping. We are happy that the IGP’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and Tactical Intelligence Unit (TIU) have not let us down in tracking down these kidnappers. We also must redouble our efforts in intelligence gathering and crime prevention. It is a joint war that must be won. Calling on the need for the command to double its effort in intelligence gathering and crime prevention be ensuring that the fight against cultism and kidnapping was won, Aderanti however noted that members of the public played a vital role in intelligence gathering. He therefore warned policemen to desist from molesting and harassing them( members of the public) as well as shun all manner of extorting money from them. He said : “ We are not being paid to torment members of the public. We are paid to actually help them because Nigeria Police is about service. The current Inspector- General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, has zero tolerance for corruption and official misconduct. “ Whosoever requests money for bail or to register people’s complaints is on his own . I warn again, don’t demand gratification from members of the public. Again, cases of policemen on illegal duty has reached an alarming proportion and this is highly unprofessional. It needs to be nipped in the bud. Some of them operate in unmarked vehicles and harassing people by searching through their phones. All these undue harassment must stop as violators will be severely dealt with. We need to focus more, apart from our crime fighting prowess, on service delivery to the public. I believe this is where we have issues. Lets render service to the law abiding members of the public because we need them to fight crime , we need them to help us in the area of kidnapping , cultism and all forms f criminality and without them we can not do anything”. He further admonished policemen to take their health serious by going on routine check up. He added that policemen should imbibe the culture of observing their annual and casual leave He said “ its been observed that most of you don’ t go on annual medical check- up. I urge you to endeavor to see your medical doctors once in six months. Issue of people slumping and dying in the offices, is enough. The Inspector-General of Police frowns at this idea of not going on leave or taking at least five days casual leave to rest He has directed that henceforth , all officers health condition must count”. On the welfare of policemen, he informed that names were being compiled for the next batch of promotion, even as he disclosed that arrears of those promoted last year would be paid before the end of the first quarter of 2017.