Former Police image-maker and Kogi State’s new Police Commissioner, Emmanuel Ojukwu, has taken the battle against crime to an all-new level, writes Atabor Julius
Kogi State is undoubtedly one of the crime endemic states in the country today. Its location on the heart of the country made it vulnerable to men of all shades of predatory activities.
Hence, the methodology and approach to policing the state required extra ordinary ingenuity and commitment on the part of the security agents.
So, when a former image-maker of the Nigeria Police Force, CP Emmanuel Ojukwu- the role he has successfully played for many years– was posted to Kogi State in September this year, the citizenry heaved a sigh of relief.
They were very confident that the man they often read and see on TV, Radio, newspapers and magazines with eloquent oratory while parading all kinds of criminals will bring his wealth of experience to stem the ever rising crimes and criminalities across the state. Prior to his posting to the state, kogi under CP Samuel Ogunjemilusi was under siege by kidnappers and bank robbers.
It was at this period that an American Missionary with New Methodist Church, Mrs. Phylis Sortor who operated a tuition free Hope Academy at Emiworo at the outskirt of Lokoja , the capital of the state was kidnapped .
It took the efforts of the American government, international community and the Nigerian government to secure her release after 32 days in the abductors’ gulag.
Other Chinese construction workers with CGC in Lokoja were not spared from being kidnapped in a row even as the activities of the men of the underworld have placed the state on the world map for wrong reasons.
This ugly trend prompted the IGP Sunday Arase to have deployed over 350 specialists police officers to the state to curtail the menace.
The efforts of crime czars drastically stemmed the ugly trend even as the present CP Ojukwu, the then force spokesperson have to drive to the state to address world press conference to showcase their harvest of criminals terrorising the state.
Consequently, as a way of trying his skill in crime control and management, the newly promoted Commissioner of Police Emmanuel Ojukwu was transferred to the state, his first operational assignment- to take over from his course mate, CP Samuel Ogunjemilusi whose tenure was laden with the incidence of abduction of high profile foreigners and Nigerians.
On assumption of office, Ojukwu the fiery and tough talking officer did not mince words when he told criminals to take a flight from the state as the force under his watch is combat ready to smash their gangs.
And true to his determination to rid criminals and predatory elements from the state swoops on their hideouts across the state.
While parading 56 suspected insurgents arrested from the Boko Haram junction at Obajana, the cement city of the state, the tough talking Ojukwu praised the exploit of his officers and men of the command, while warning criminals to relocate from the state as they are poised to smoke and keep insurgents at bay from the state.
Challenged by the boldness of the CP, the insurgents in their unspecified numbers on Friday night of 26 September, 2015 in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital stormed the headquarters of the Department of State Security (DSS) shooting sporadically at the operatives manning the gate with intent to gain entry to the cell to rescue some of their members who were being detained by the service.
At the end of the gun battle that lasted for hours, three members of the sect and a Mobile Police officer were shot dead.
The insurgents who stormed the agency’s headquarters on Hassan Katsina road at about 10.30pm armed with IEDs, AK47 rifles and other dangerous weapons, made mockery of the intelligence gathering of the security operatives in the state as they were said to have bombarded the office in order to gain access to the cell.
But with the combined efforts of the police and the Army they were able to repel the attack after engaging the insurgents for about three hours in fierce gun battle before they were finally curtailed as some of the insurgents were said to have fled into the bush with bullet wounds.
Just as the force was celebrating the reduction of spate of kidnapping and armed banditry, an Islamic sect known as Al surna with their base at Inike Idozi ward at Okene who allegedly have their link to the Shiite sect in the Republic of Iran had through intelligence report were responsible for the attack on the DSS office.
Meanwhile, through a tip off, the Army on 13 October, 2015 launched an early morning raid at the insurgents hideout in a mosque at Inike Idozi ward, Okene which led to a fierce gun battle leaving over 15 insurgents dead while some soldiers sustained injuries.
Apart from the usual reports of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, unlawful possession of firearms and culpable homicide, the hitherto kidnapping of foreign and high profile Nigerians has been brought to a halt under CP Ojukwu, a feat that deserves commendation.
According to him, “My mission in the state is to ensure that lives and properties are protected at all times. We will make the state impregnable for criminals as we will work hard to smoke them out of their hide out,” Ojukwu told THISDAY.
He has repeatedly warned politicians and their agents to desist from their unwholesome acts, before, during and after the election, shouting that the force is poised to deal with defaulters irrespective of their social status.
And true to his warning, some youths believed to be political thugs, who were allegedly contracted from across the state to cause mayhem at the Igala axis of the state were apprehended at Ejule in Ofu LGA of the state, who are now undergoing interrogation.
While parading the eight-man suspected thugs at the command headquarters recently, the Commissioner of Police promised to ensure that seven policemen are deployed to each of the polling units across the state in the November 21, 2015 governorship election while daring politicians and their agents to test the might of the force.
According to security watch in the state, his two months at the helms of the command, apart from the isolated kidnap of three students of Kogi State Polytechnic Osara campus by some Fulani herdsmen who were swiftly rescued by the police without paying a dime as ransom, the state has enjoyed relatively free violent crimes environment.
According to a security analyst in the state who crave anonymity noted that CP Ojukwu has employed intelligence policing which accounted for the smashing of the criminal hideouts before they could launch an attack.
He described the method adopted by the erstwhile force public relations guru as landmark as his stint in the state has sent criminals on a voyage from the state, saying with little motivation to officers and men of the command, the confluence state is on its way to become the least crime infested state in the country.
