The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, has revealed that his collaboration with the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has led to a significant reduction in crime rate in South-West Nigeria.
The IGP, who made the revelation through a delegation sent to the Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yorubaland and Leader of the OPC, Iba Gani Adams, in Lagos on Thursday, said that he would sustain the synergy and partnership with the OPC to further reduce crime rate and ensure peace in the southwest area.
Rising from a meeting with the delegation, the Aare Ona Kankanfo commended the initiative of the IGP to partner with his organisation to fight crime, as he pledged that the OPC will not betray the course.
Adams noted that the most important part of security is intelligence gathering, as he recalled how the police in Lagos were able to end the menace of the dreaded Badoo cultists involved in several killings in the state by forming a partnership with the OPC.
He also noted that the OPC was not set up as a crime-fighting organisation as he revealed the circumstances that led to its involvement in security matters when landlord associations sought its assistance to stem the tide of rising crimes.
He reflected on the confrontations between the OPC and the police between 2000 and 2004, and expressed joy that today the IGP has found the organisation worthy of his collaboration in crime fighting.
Commending the IGP for believing in community policing and taking pro-active steps, Adams said that the OPC would work with the newly established police special squad to be deployed to the southwest, as his men who know the territory well are ready, willing, and able to confront criminals in the region.
Leader of the IGP’s delegation, Mr Jude Nwankor, assured Aare Ona Kankanfo that the mistake of the past would not repeat itself again.
Members of the delegation included the Officer in Charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Lagos, CSP Peter Gana and the Commander, Seme Border Patrol, CSP Ogechi Moses Udu.
Also at the parley on the side of Iba Adams were the former Special Adviser, Political, to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Basorun Akin Osuntokun; OPC’s Director of Mobilisation, Comrade Dauda Asikolaye; Mogaji Gboyega Adejumo; Osi Aare Ona Kakanfo, Gani Kola Balogun; Mr. Segun Sani; and key members of the OPC