TheCable

Usman Baba, inspector-general of the police (IGP), says the force has increased the presence of officers at the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

Over the past few months, there have been a series of reports on the high rate of robbery and kidnapping along the expressway.

TheCable had reported how suspected kidnappers attacked passengers travelling along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Tuesday.

On October 28, an unspecified number of motorists were also kidnapped along the expressway, including Adigun Agbaje, a former deputy vice-chancellor (academics) of the University of Ibadan.

Speaking on Thursday at a press briefing, the IGP attributed the spate of kidnapping and robbery on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to the ongoing construction at the axis.

“We are in know of what is happening. Most of the cases, if they were not prevented, they were detected,” he said.

“At the beginning of the week, we decided to increase our presence on that road. Because a lot of construction is going on in that area and there are diversions and blockages.

“Our presence has been increased to mitigate the crime further.”

‘WE’RE CHECKMATING HIGHHANDEDNESS OF SECURITY OUTFITS CREATED BY GOVERNORS’

Speaking further, Baba said the police are checkmating the “highhandedness” of officials of security outfits created by the state governors.

The IGP mentioned that police had arrested and prosecuted some officials of the Ebube Agu, a security outfit in the south-east, over highhandedness.

He said officials of state’s security outfits have been warned not to engage in electioneering activities ahead of the 2023 elections.

“We have not less than 64 security outfits that were created by different state governors for different purposes,” he said.

“So these outfits have been created to checkmate crimes. We also have told them that they are not to be used for politicking or for political reasons.

“Ebube Agu — we have on many occasions checkmated their highhandedness by arresting and investigating those who committed crimes and we have charged them to court.

“We are checkmating them. They have good, bad and ugly sides. That is why they need to be regulated and checkmated them and we are doing that.”