IGP moves to curb kidnapping on Lagos-Ibadan highway

The Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, has taken steps to stop the cases of kidnapping on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

On Tuesday, the IGP reportedly took briefs from the commissioners of police in Ogun, Lagos and Oyo states about the security situation on the expressway.

Consequent upon this, the IGP was said have “ordered an immediate restructuring of the security architecture on the expressway.”

A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the step was taken to provide adequate deployment of officers and assets to ensure the protection of lives and property along the way and to forestall kidnappings and other ugly incidents.

According to Adejobi, the IGP emphasized that the police authority was not insensitive to the security challenges on the Lagos-Ibadan road, saying, however, that it has been engaged with charting a path towards decimating the security challenge and strategically eliminating the threats along the expressway.

This, he said, was why he ordered an on-the-spot assessment of the black spots along the road by the commissioners of police in Ogun and Oyo.

IGP Baba reportedly pledged adequate operational support in form of technology-based and tactical operational assets for the police commissioners in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, and heads of tactical operational units in the area to combat the current trend of crimes and criminality on the highway.

He called on road users, hunters, community leaders, and others plying the route to constantly expose known criminals along the road to the police and other security agencies for immediate arrest and prosecution.