Posted by By Christopher Oji and Toyosi Ogunseye on
The police in Lagos paraded 23 doomsday armed robbery suspects Thursday as the new Commissioner of Police, Mr Adewole Ajayi Ajakaiye held his maiden press conference.
The police in Lagos paraded 23 doomsday armed robbery suspects Thursday as the new Commissioner of Police, Mr Adewole Ajayi Ajakaiye held his maiden press conference.
Ajakaiye said his men who were working to restore lasting peace to Lagos had killed three other suspects in gun battle, recovered about 1,308 rounds of live ammunition and 13 firearms.
According to him, building trust and implementing crime prevention and control measures would reflect the concerns and allay the fears of the citizenry.
He said: "The police want to ensure that Nigerians are protected and law abiding citizens are free to go about their business unfettered."
Ajakaiye said that a cordial relationship between the public and police was very important to him.
"We want to fight crime in Lagos. We also want to earn the respect and friendship of the public. It behooves us as law enforcement agents to pursue the Ten Point Action Programme of the acting Inspector General of Police for total accomplishment of our new motto: ‘To serve and protect with integrity,' " he said.
Ajakaiye expressed worry ever extortion of money from the public by policemen.
He said: "Everybody knows about the new anti-corruption wave in the country. It would be silly for anyone who is involved in corruption not to turn a new leaf. Any policeman found extorting innocent members of the public would be reported to the police service commission and punished. Members of the public should stop giving policemen money because it is also a crime".
Ajakaiye revealed that he would soon meet with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and other related bodies so as to reduce the menace of touts, popularly called ‘Agbero' in the metropolis.
The CP also stressed that his administration would not condone criminals who hide under the guise of any ethnic militia to make Lagos ungovernable.
He said: "Criminality is criminality. We will not treat it with kid gloves. And we are not going to say that because you belong to one ethnic militia, we will not deal with you when your misbehave. Nobody is above the law.
"We are really dedicated to fighting crime. We want to make Lagos State peaceful."
Three of the armed robbers were felled during a gun duel with policemen.