Kwara CP makes case for police

Yekini Jimoh, Ilorin - 26.11.2007

KWARA State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Audu Abubakar, has described the police as the whipping child of the society because anything bad was always attributed to the Force.

Speaking in a personality interview programme on the state radio, which was monitored by the Nigerian Tribune, the commissioner said Nigerian Police Force was not the most corrupt organisation in the country as claimed in some quarters.

According to him, members of the public should appreciate the efforts of the police as they were always paying the supreme price in an effort to protect lives and property.

Alhaji Abubakar, who said the police must be equipped with sophisticated weapons in order to match those being carried by criminals, said this would assist them to reduce crime in the country.

He urged security operatives and members of the public to find ways of ensuring that firearms did not get to criminals, instead of agitating that the police should be armed with sophisticated firearms.

“All hands must be on deck to ensure that manufacturers and importers of illegal firearms as well as men of the underworld are dealt with,”he said.

He said that he had directed his officers and men within Ilorin metropolis and those on the highways to embark on vigorous stop-and-search of vehicles to check crime rate, “particularly during this ember months.”

The commissioner praised the federal and the Kwara state governments for equipping the police and providing welfare schemes for policemen.