Oyo CP holds stakeholders’ meeting with Idi Ayunre/Ogunmakin residents in crusade against kidnapping 

Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Onadeko, has appealed to residents and indigenes of communities around Idi Ayunre/Ijebu Ode Road to give the police information that will help in putting a stop to crime and criminality being perpetrated by kidnappers.

Onadeko made the appeal on Tuesday, during an emergency stakeholders’ meeting held at the PCRC Hall, Idi-Ayunre Divisional Police Headquarters, Ibadan.

In attendance at the meeting were community and religious leaders, social workers, business owners, local hunters, security agents, vigilante group members and government representatives.

The police commissioner noted the challenges the state police command had been having on the road, with the spate of kidnappings that had been occurring.

She added that the way the situation was getting out of hand had raised worries, hence the need to discuss with stakeholders on the way to put a halt to the crime.

According to her, “I have over seven tactical teams on the road, but we are still having these issues.

“We need credible information because you live in this vicinity and surrounding communities. This brings us to community policing.

“You should be able to know those infiltrating these communities to cause these problems. We have an influx of people coming into the farms and forests, and you see them.

“If you don’t tell us what is going on, how do we help ourselves?

Some of the people at the meeting spoke on the challenges they had been facing with the kidnappers, with workers in a construction company abandoning its quarry site after they were attacked, dispossessed of their belongings, abducted and made to pay a ransom before they were released.

The owner of Megabolex Quarry, Mrs Ruth Okoh, who praised the Divisional Police Officer of Idi Ayunre and Officer in charge of Anti-Kidnapping Squad for their interventions, appealed to the state government to clear the bushes along the road on both sides, to allow clear sight of the surroundings, as a way of preventing abductions.

In response, Onadeko promised that more tactical teams would be deployed on the road and surrounding communities, while she was assured of periodic feedback by the stakeholders.

The state police boss was also at the Oyo State Security Trust Fund to have private discussions with the Senior Special Adviser on Security, Fatai Owoseni, a retired Commissioner of Police, on the Idi Ayunre/Ijebu Ode Road kidnap challenges.