From: Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Senate has tasked the Nigeria Police to storm kidnappers’ camps along Kaduna-Abuja Road and fish them out to face the wrath of the law of the land.
The charge was coming ahead of the Senate’s plans to advocate for more funding for the Nigeria Police, stressing that the red chamber will consider a bill to push for direct funding for the force.
Police special forces has been deployed of recent to tame armed robbery and kidnapping along Kaduna-Abuja highways by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris.
Chairman Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Abu Ibrahim, disclosed this, on Sunday, during an assessment tour of Police deployment along the Highway.
He said it has become imperative to go into the forest and root out the kidnappers, because staying only on the highway will amount to cosmetics, rather wiping out the criminals holistically.
The Senator who was guided on the tour by Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Agyole Abeh lamented what he described as low funding of police operations.
He therefore emphasised that, his committee will push for the adoption of a bill that will ensure that at least one per cent of the federal allocation is set aside for security operations of the police.
Senator Ibrahim said, a situation where police use funds meant for purchasing of equipments and welfare of its personnel for special operations is unacceptable.
Addressing officers and men of the force at the Katari Divisional Police Headquarters, which is being used as the operational base of Operation Absolute Sanity, the Senator said, welfare of officers and men of the force will become a paramount issue to be discussed in the upper chamber when it resumes.
He also disclosed that his committee will soon take a tour of six states of Nassarawa, Kano, Kaduna, Niger, Kogi, Zamfara and Katsina to solicit the state governments’ commitment to the security operations around their state, by providing funds to assist the operations.
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Agyole Abeh said, the officers and men of the special forces deployed on Kaduna-Abuja highway are the best brains in the Police Force because of the series of trainings they have undergone.
He therefore assured that, with proper equipment and welfare, they will not only comb the forests, they will equally rid Kaduna-Abuja highway of kidnappers.
Speaking at Kurmin-Kare junction, Kaduna State, the CP told the Senator that, the area was hitherto the den of kidnappers and armed robbers but it is today very safe due to the operations.
The CP said the operational tactics of the kidnappers is to empower some villagers who serve as their informants, with motor bikes and mobile phones. “While the kidnappers are in the forest, these informants ride bikes down to the forest to give them information on the movement of security personnel. Also, when a vehicle breaks down on the road, the informants quickly call them to come and kidnap the travellers.”
“The kidnappers often use the mobile phones collected from their victims. They also travel very far from the crime spot and their camps to contact the victims’ relatives on phone. This is is making it difficult for us to easily track them down. But, even with this, we have arrested a large number of them”.