Our initiative to curb banditry, kidnapping in Edo paying off — Forum

The Amalgamated Afemai Forum (AAF), has said that its initiative to curb insecurity in Edo State, particularly in Edo North Senatorial District had recorded tremendous success within the six months of its implementation.

The Commander General of the Oduma Protection Squad (OPS) and a security expert, Prince Martins Sadoh, who hails from Okpella Etsako East Local Government Area of the state, made the disclosure in a press statement made available to newsmen in Benin on Monday.

He said that the AAF initiative which was to curb insecurity in the Edo North senatorial district of the state led to the launch of (OPS) in collaboration with the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) in December 2022.

Sadoh, who said that the 350-man OPS had reduced banditry and kidnapping in the district to the barest minimum within one year of its operation, noted that farmers who had hitherto abandoned their farms over insecurity had returned to farming.

Sadoh, a security expert and a visiting resource person at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Bamako Mali, said he was moved by the plight of farmers who had to abandon their only means of survival over insecurity.

“Theirs (farmers) became a desperate means of survival haven their only means of survival which is farming almost taken away from them by bandits and kidnappers.

“As a security expert and more that I am an Afemai man, I felt the need to do something and that thing was the launch of OPS in December last year with the deputy governor of Edo State in attendance.

“Security Is everyone’s business, irrespective of status or class, we must all contribute our different quotas to make our homeland safe and secure for us to go about our daily businesses.

“I am indeed happy that tremendous progress has been made with the OPS as no fewer than 65 arrests have been made since the operation started.

“Our team has made most forests unsafe for these criminal elements to go about their usual business unchallenged,” he stated.

Sadoh who said that six Siena and 30 motorcycles were provided for the outfit during launch, however, appealed for more support from individuals and organisations to enable the OPS to record more successes.

According to him, “We need more from everyone, low or mighty, as we are bound by a common destiny which is to ensure a safe place for us all to carry on with our daily activities without fear of being killed or abducted.

“Insecurity in Afemailand is peculiar because being a transit area from East, West, North and Middle Belt made it difficult to rise to the challenges concurrently from multiple fronts, without adequate resources.”

He commended the role of JDPC through the Catholic Bishop of Auchi, Bishop Gabriel Dunia, the convener of AAF Dr. Bright Aregs, and the chairman Dr. Lecky Mustapha Muhammed for the successes so far recorded by the OPS.

Meanwhile, Sadoh has called on the government of Nigeria to engage the services of private security outfits in the area of intelligence gathering and others to curb challenges of insecurity in the country.

“This is what is practicable in developed countries, including the US. They use private security outfits for intelligence gathering and some covert operations.

“Our armed forces are one of the best in Africa and I can very well tell you that they are overstretched, they need help and it’s only a private security outfit that can render that assistance for them to record more successes to finally arrest the insecurity problem in the country,” he posited.

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