Offa robbery: Private security outfits provide fresh angle

Fresh facts have emerged on the recent armed robbery attack on five banks in Offa, Kwara State by licensed private security practitioners in the state.The association  said that men of the state police command did not act on the information provided to them.

It will be recalled that nine policemen were among the people who were killed by the hoodlums who escaped with unspecified amount of money during the attack.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Friday during a sensitisation walk by members of the association, chairman, Association of Licensed Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria, in the state, Olusola Obadeyi, said that members of the association alerted police authority in the area of activities of the hoodlums before the incident.

Obadeyi, who said that men of a licensed private security outfit working at the hotel where the hoodlums had stayed before their operation had informed police in the area of presence of men of questionable character.

He also said that the attack could have been nipped in the bud if appropriate action had been taken. He, however, commented on insufficient number of personnel and equipment in the state.

The security expert called for complementary roles among regular security agencies in the country and members of the private security outfit, saying that the nation’s security network cannot be handled alone by the police.

He said that members of the organisation were in most grassroots areas of the country, adding that the country is too large and with insufficient number of police personnel to carry out security functions.