Offa Robbery: Saraki calls for improvement of security infrastructure

*Opposed to deployment of soldiers for assistance

*As Olofa explains why use of local hunters undesirable

On the question of inviting the military for assistance, the Senate President said “there is no society that delegates the responsibilities of the police to that of the military. Because it also has its own fallbacks; the number of the military is very thin. They are in most of the states of the federation. This makes it difficult for them to protect the territorial integrity of the country.”

The Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki Saturday called for the improvement of security infrastructure in Nigeria, saying the nation’s security challenges were as a result of the inadequate response to security.

Saraki said this in Offa, Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State when he paid a condolence visit to the Olofa of Offa, Oba Mohammed Muftau Gbadamosi, on the recent robbery incident in the town.

The Senate President spoke just as an eminent Nigerian proffered successful fight against corruption as panacea for taming incidents of armed robbery, kidnapping and other criminal incidents in the country, adding that the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria headed by Dr. Bukola Saraki should take responsibility for the frustrations the anti-corruption war has suffered due to its nonsupporting disposition towards it.

He said, “If the Bukola Saraki-led Legislature and Onoghen-led Judiciary have keyed into the anti-corruption of President Muhammadu Buhari-led Executive, for anybody to think of any crime be it stealing by pen, robbery, kidnapping or by any means of criminality, he will think twice.  Unfortunately Offa has had its own experience of it.  If corrupt people have not made gun proliferation possible, guns that are the major boldness of robbers will not be available to carry out robbery,” the citizen, who strictly demanded anonymity, said.

Daredevil armed robbers on Thursday last week raided five banks and police station in the Offa community, killing over 20 people in their trails.

Saraki, on the condolence visit to Oloffa, said, “All the issue had to do on how we will improve on our security infrastructure.  It is clear that we are not responding adequately to this. That is why we organized a security summit sometime ago to address the issue and to work close with the executive and see how we can find solution to the security problems in the country.”

“We on the legislative arm are ready to come up with the real design to improve on the security challenges, whether it is the human resources, equipment, whether it has to do with funding and legislation. There is also the issue of the actual structure of the police.

He added, “This issue requires a very radical and serious minded approach. Unless we address this we will continue to have this kind of scenario where a bunch of criminals will hold a town for two hours and carry out this mayhem. There is no society that will really allow this kind of thing to happen.”

“We condole with the families of both the civilians and the policemen that died during the incident. In a place like Offa that is very vibrant in commerce, we must address security challenge so that people can continue to carry out their normal activities.”

“The police must see this as an institutional issue. It is not personal. On our part as legislators we are ready to do anything that will empower them” Saraki said.

On the question of inviting the military for assistance, the Senate President said “there is no society that delegates the responsibilities of the police to that of the military. Because it also has its own fallbacks; the number of the military is very thin. They are in most of the states of the federation. This makes it difficult for them to protect the territorial integrity of the country.”

Also speaking is Oba Gbadamosi who reechoed the clamour in some quarters, for the establishment of state police.

“It will be better for the Federal Government to establish state police. With that they will be closer to the people and to the state government. This is the fourth time that we will experience such in the last ten years.

“One of the major problems of the police force is manpower. We discover that in Offa local government area here the number of policemen is not up to 50. Anytime we have something like this there will be no reinforcement anywhere. So what we need is manpower. The state government can afford to buy us armoured personnel carrier (APC), it can afford to build more police station but if the manpower is not there it is not enough.”

“What the Federal Government needs to do is to employ as many graduates as police looking for jobs into the police force, Army, Air Force and the Navy. There is a lot of unemployed graduates that are ready to join these military and para-military forces.”

“There is no security at all in the country. If you were here on that fateful day you will know what I am saying.

“I don’t want to believe that it is a question of sophisticated weapons; it is the question of ‘we cannot go there because we are not enough.’ What they have the military and the police have, but when they are more than the police in number, what can the police do.”

“We have always been involving local security, but you know these criminals when they come they always catch people unawares. There is risk attached to the use of local hunters, because by the time we get them involved because of a day like this, the police will arrest them and say they are carrying dane guns.”

The Senator representing district including Offa, Irepodun and Ifelodun federal constituency, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim said the attack shows the inadequacy of security agencies and called for overhaul I g of the security.

“This kind of incident can happen in any town and throw the city into mourning. I will enjoin our security to increase their presence in Offa and environs. It also shows that we need military formation in and around Offa that can respond to inadequacies of police in times like this,” Ibrahim said.