The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, has directed Commissioners of Police to take measures to ensure the security of lives and property in their respective commands during the forthcoming yuletide.
Abubakar gave the directive on Tuesday in Abuja when he met with the 36 state Commissioners of Police and the Assistant Inspectors General of Police in charge of the 12 Zonal Commands across the nation.
He said that the essence of the meeting was to discuss measures to ensure security of lives and property in all parts of the country during the period
“Every Commissioner of Police must go back to his respective command and take measures to ensure that there is a hitch-free Christmas and New Year celebration.The crises must be tackled and stopped.
“Cases of incessant killing must stop; we must be able to phase out cases of kidnapping and armed robbery and we must checkmate the excesses of our officers and men.
“It is a fact that we have made some significant progress in improving safety and security in most part of the country but there are still challenges in some states, particularly in the North East and North West regions.
According to the IG, the states are Yobe, Borno, Kaduna, Zamfara and Taraba.
Abubakar commended officers and men of the police, particularly police commissioners and the AIGs in charge of states and zonal commands, for reducing crimes and checking corruption in the force.
“We have seen significant improvement in terms of behaviour pattern of our officers and men but I believe there is still room for improvement.
“Any command that we have cases of rampant bribery and corruption, it will be assumed that the Commissioner is not interested in fighting that cankerworm. The same thing with crime and criminality,’’ he said.
He warned that any command where there were rampant cases of bribery and corruption and failure to adequately deal with crime, the commissioner in charge would be henceforth sanctioned.
Responding to a question on Boko Haram, Abubakar said that a number of suspects were being detained but that he could not give the definite figure now as some of them were in the custody of sister security agencies.
He, however, disclosed that a joint security committee had been set up to reconcile the figure in the various detention centres.
The IG also said that the non-passage of the Anti-Terrorism Bill before the National Assembly was hampering the prosecution of suspects in connection with the activities of the sect.
“You are aware that the Anti-Terrorism Bill is still before the National Assembly. Yes, we have quite a number of these suspects (Boko Haram) with us but I cannot give you a definite figure now.
“Remember that other security agencies are involved in this fight and they too have some number of suspects.
“And because of that concern and worry, we have just set up a committee to reconcile all the number of suspects and as soon as they do that, I can give the number in detention,’’ he said.
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