2015 elections: Police in Oyo State assure journalists, others of safety

AHEAD of the rescheduled general elections, the Oyo state police command has assured citizens of adequate protection saying it has made a partnership arrangement with other security agencies to make the electoral process a ‎hitch-free one.

    The state police Commissioner, Muhammed Musa Katsina  who disclosed this while interacting with members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Oyo state Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) specifically assured journalists of adequate protection from any form of embarrassment, molestation or harassment from any quarters especially from his men.

     Represented by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu (Deputy Superintendent of Police), ‎the police boss said, “whenever there is friction in any form, contact the command’s spokesman and we will be ever ready to intervene and protect your interest. We have got strategies of partnership policing, visibility policing, as well as inter-agency collaboration with the aim of protecting all and sundry under the law, for us to continue to have a peaceful state and a free and fair electoral process”.

     “We assure of robust relationship with journalists to build synergy and collaboration with you, as well as having good working relationship. We also therefore solicit your support to succeed in this onerous task”, he appealed.

     Ajisebutu confirmed that soldiers were recently withdrawn from the combined security outfit in the state, code- named: “Operation Burst”‎, but however said that the joint efforts of the police and men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Commission (NSCDC) would ensure security of lives and property of the people of the state before, during and after the elections.

       Speaking on the controversial “Soka Evil Forest” in Ibadan, where many dead bodies and destitute were discovered in April 2014, the PPRO said that the Force at the national level had taken over investigations on the matter, and that the command could no longer say much about it.

     He however disclosed that a lot of developmental projects have been going on at the place. There is adequate security of lives and property in the community and we assure that there will not be a repeat of the scenario again. 

     “We have engaged in constant visibility policing, constant patrol of the nooks and crannies of the State to prevent such occurrence. We are also engaged in community policing, where we meet with community leaders, youths and other residents of the State to solicit their full cooperation.

“We will make use of our intelligence gathering from the streets and the Oyo State Police Command is working with the vigilance group at all levels in information gathering and sharing in tandem with the principle of community policing”, Ajisebutu said.

  Meanwhile, Federation of Oyo State Students’ Union (FOSSU) has urged politicians to base their campaign on issues capable of developing the state and desist from using students for political destruction.

     Vice president of the union, Yusuf Imran who made the plea at a media briefing in Ibadan also lauded the present administration for its efforts in the development of education in the state.