The Ayangburen of Ikorodu, Oba Abdul Kabir Adewale Shotobi has said all the traditional rulers in Ikorodu area of Lagos have resolved to partner with security agencies to curb crimes in the state.
The monarch disclosed this when the Lagos State commissioner of police, Fatai Owoseni visited his palace on Sunday to discuss on how to prevent future occurrence of the recent police killings at Isawo.
“We have been given an assignment by the police and I am assuring you that we are going to convey a meeting of all the Baales on the Ikorodu traditional council and intimate them on the need to help security operatives by supplying useful information about criminal activities in their domain.
“I have warned the Baales before that any of them caught on the other side of the law and found guilty will automatically loose his title and the Ayangburen will support the prosecution of such monarch.
“The Ayangburen in council including all the Obas and chiefs are in constant communication with the police with respect to five officers that lost their lives at Isawo. We are ready to work in partnership with the police as our efforts will go a long way to put a stop to it,” he assured.
Most of the other traditional rulers present who spoke, decried a situation whereby land grabbers with the support of security operatives invade their communities to attack and kill innocent villagers when taking possession of lands.
They also bemoaned a situation, where known criminals previously arrested were released after sometime by the police, saying that such actions deter villagers from coming up with useful information about criminal elements on the community.
Also speaking, the state’s Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, stressed the need for community policing and sued for active participation of everybody in the task of addressing certain security challenges in their respective neighbourhood.
“We have started by invading the Isawo creek, we don’t want anything to slow us down, we want the people to see us together collaborating on the fight against crime, we are sure when they see this the flow of information will greatly improve, ” he said.
While assuring the traditional rulers of the maximum cooperation of the Nigeria Police Force and neutrality in handling security issues in the area, the police boss thanked them for the concern shown by the monarch in sympathising with the police and families that lost their loved ones through recent criminal attacks in the area.
