Chinwendu Obienyi
As reactions continue to trail the kidnap of Gbemisola Alabi, a businesswoman, who was reportedly abducted while jogging on the Monastery Road in the Sangotedo area, Lagos, the Lekki Women Association (LEWA) has called on the Federal government as well as State governments to equip security agencies sufficiently.
This the association said has become necessary so as to ensure the lives of Nigerians are protected. Gbemisola Alabi who left her house around 6am on Sunday to keep fit was accosted by some gunmen and recent reports revealed that the Lagos State Police Command has launched a manhunt for the kidnappers.
However, speaking to Daily Sun, President, LEWA, Mrs. Serah Iyeru, noted that the rising state of insecurity in the country especially around the Lekki axis have become alarming and called on the government to intensify their efforts towards tackling insecurity.
Iyeru said, “I think it is very sad for something of such a high crime to be happening on this axis, it is heartbreaking from the women perspective. I am a mother, a sister, and a daughter and so I can imagine if I have been found missing, how would my family feel about it?
This is a very sensitive issue as the person in question is a mother of a young child and that child is denied of the love, affection and support of the mother. Now the families are worried and crime rate in lekki seems to be increasing day in day out”.
According to her, The Lagos state government under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is doing all that needs to be done but the agencies are lacking sufficient equipments to do their job.
Her words, “I would not say the government are not doing enough to tackle the problem of security in the country especially with the efforts of the Lagos State government under the leadership of Babajide Sanwo-olu. he had even released a statement to security agencies to be on the alert and protect the citizens of this state and so I believe that he is being sensitive about security but one of the things I have observed within the lekki axis and also in some parts in the country is that our security agencies are not fully equipped to safeguard lives.
If the people you are protecting see that you are not fully equipped or skilled enough to protect them, then what hope do you want the public to have? We should have law and order in every angle and corner of Lagos state so that we feel safe. it is noticeable that a lot of people are afraid of plying the Lagos-Ibadan expressway axis, are we now going to stay indoors so that we do not get robbed or kidnapped or in some cases, get killed? these are things that we need to think about”.