Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone II, comprising Oyo, Osun and Ondo States, Mr. Leye Oyebade, yesterday, said the police have the technical support to apprehend kidnappers, robbers and other criminals operating on the Ibadan-Ilesha-Akure road, and other parts of the zone.
He gave the assurance during his familiarisation tour of Oyo State Police Command, during which he was received by the commissioner of police in the state, Mr. Shina Olukolu, traditional rulers, religious leaders, farmers, members of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association and members of Police Community Relation Committee (PCRC) at Eleyele, Ibadan.
Kidnappers had recently abducted an Ibadan-based lawyer, Mr. Musibau Adetunmbi, at Iwaraja, Osun State, along the Ilesha-Akure Road, and a professor of orthopaedic surgery and traumatology, Adeyinka Adegbehingbe, of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and released them after collecting ransom.
Also, a number of robbery cases have been reported on the road, especially between Ilesha and Owena, in spite of the heavy presence of security personnel at some strategic points on the highway.
Oyebade called on inhabitants of various communities in the three states to give useful information to the police on suspicious activities in their communities. He said credible information would help the police to take proactive steps and prevent crime, instead of being reactive.
When journalists asked Oyebade to comment on the measures he was putting in place to combat incessant kidnapping and robbery on Ibadan-Ife-Ilesha-Akure road, he said: “If one incident happened, you don’t use the word incessant to say it is now a terror zone. I won’t take that submission. We have gone on that road. Crime is dynamic and we have to up our games. We have got more technical support and we have got more technical platforms to apprehend these criminals that have been disturbing us.
“So, we want the cooperation of members of the public. This is what we are soliciting, and that is what we are getting. In all areas, we know that we will deal with heinous crimes to be able to achieve the desired result of getting minimum problems or challenges in terms of our ability to curtail crimes in this zone.