A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Edo State, Barrister Kenneth Imansuangbon, has said it is time for the Nigeria government to allow state governments to set up state police formations.
Barrister Imasuangbon popularly known as ‘Rice man’ said well funded state police would allow intelligence gathering and possible prevention of crime before it occurs.
He also called on the citizen not to leave the work of policing solely alone for the police noting that citizen participation in security would have prevented the easy escape of the armed robbers unchallenged.
Imasuangbon, who was reacting to last week’s bank robberies in Uromi, headquarters of Esan North East Local Government Area, spoke from the United States of America. He also commiserated with victims of the attacks and people of Uromi.
He said the coordinated attacks showed that the armed robbers carried out diligent intelligence on the area.
He called on locals to always give accurate and timely information to the police whenever they suspected any suspicious movement.
According to him, ” From what I saw from the short video clip on the robbery in the social media it was clear that the robbers had a field day. It is time for the citizen to be actively involved in community policing and intelligence gathering.
“As citizens we should take a cue from what is happening in Ukraine where courageous citizens rise up in defence of their country against Russian military.
“The Edo State Government is doing its best to curb insecurity in the state. There is need for all of us to support the State to fight crime because Edo State belongs to all of us.
“The horror of the Uromi attacks is a warning to all of us that the time to allow State Police is now.
“We will not allow criminals run us out of our communities as being witnessed in other parts of the country.”
