Assistant Editor (South South), JOE EZUMA, examines the rising crime rate in Rivers State and environs, identifying factors aiding the menace and the way out.
The acrimonious politics and issue-deficient campaigns that trailed the last general elections, as well as the general economic crisis in the land, have added to the rising crime wave that manifests in kidnapping, armed robbery and street violence in Rivers and neighbouring states. This state of affairs had led to Assistant Inspector-General (IGP), Tunde Ogunsakin, to raise the alarm over the resurgence of crime in the politically-volatile state and caution the state police command.
Ogunsakin called on men of the Nigeria Police under the Zone 6 Command to curb the rise in crime in the four states of Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ebonyi and Rivers. He spoke to the Commissioners of Police in the affected states.
He said: “There has been increase in the rate of crime, and this calls for immediate strategies to be specifically devised by all of you in your respective states, with a view to finding lasting solutions. From my observation, kidnapping and cultism are crimes that have been on the rise in the zone. Particularly, Rivers State Command is becoming increasingly notorious for this.
“In this light, the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State must act convincingly by way of showing special crime-fighting abilities to overwhelm and put the situation under control. This situation has made the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to make constant phone calls to me, as he is not in any way impressed.”
The AIG highlighted areas of operations that must be intensified to achieve the desired target.
These, he said, included stop-and-search operations, raiding black spots and criminal hide-outs among others. The initiative, he said, “is geared towards the recovery of arms, ammunition, explosives and other incriminating items that may have been stocked for the purpose of perpetrating violence during the electioneering period”.
Ogunshakin further disclosed that he was closely monitoring the performance of convincing crime prevention and detection skills, stressing that there may be need for him to carry out inter-state transfers within Zone 6 Command to change officers that are not performing up to his expectation. He also warned Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and Heads of Police formations to wake up, asking the commissioners to seize the opportunity and seek cooperation of members of the public in the fight against crime and criminality.
Observers are agreed that the alarm by the AIG is coming at the right time. This is particularly as the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are pitted against each other in claims and counter-claims of their members either killed, maimed or property destroyed. There is thus the fear of reprisals by foot soldiers of the parties, if pre-emptive actions are not taken.
Aside the politically-motivated violence, our reporter gathered that while the police in Rivers, especially in the high population density and slum areas of Diobu and outskirts of Port Harcourt up to surrounding local government areas, have been having hectic times combating robbery-related crimes, the riverine Andoni communities in the Andoni /Opobo/Nkoro council have had to contend with kidnapping and related criminal activities. It is estimated by sources close to the communities that over 15 persons had been kidnapped in the erstwhile peaceful riverine community, in recent time.
TheNiche learnt that the kidnappers rake in the low and high areas, while pirates and armed robbers also run riot in the communities. Two of the chilling incidents of abduction were those of 70 –year-old Opada Timothy Agbelekama from Agut-Obolo Town in Andoni Local Government Area, and the Vice Chancellor of the state University of Education.
Apparently acting on Ogunsakin’s marching orders, Chris Okey Ezike, the new Rivers Commissioner of Police, on Thursday, July 2, drew a battle line against armed robbers, kidnappers and other criminal elements in the state, while warning his officers and men to take service delivery as a serious issue.
“As I perused the hand-over notes from my predecessor, it was easily noticeable that the trend and pattern of serious crimes in the state have become worrisome to the citizens. Specifically, kidnapping and armed robbery fuelled and energised by cultism have been on the increase. Consequently, the focus of my leadership of the command shall be to reverse the trend and halt the drift,” Ezike declared.
Some members of the private sector have been raising concern over the spate of kidnapping and rise in other crimes in Rivers, expressing fears that it would scare away investors from the state.
A sociologist, Chinedu Nwamkpa, told TheNiche that the situation was a reflection of both politics and poverty in the land, pointing out that the bitterness, violence and unfulfilled hopes that trailed the last elections as well as unemployment, poverty and desperation for survival inflicted on the youths through bad governance added to the situation.
He noted that while politicians had run erstwhile flourishing industries aground without building new ones, a new but frightening dimension in the society now is to seek job through kidnapping and sundry crimes. The motivations, he pointed out, could include vendetta, settling of political scores among other grudges.
“It is obscene to see those who preside over the affairs of the people pocketing their common wealth with long convoys of jeeps and other exotic cars, with mansions springing up every day, while the average citizen is jobless and live daily in hunger. A time will come when youths will move into homes with guns and demand to be served foods and make away with whatever they can lay their hands on,” he warned.