Following the increase in robbery attacks, kidnapping and assassination in Edo State, a coalition of civil and human rights activists, under the umbrella of Civil Society Organizations of Edo State, Monday urged the Obaseki led administration to strengthen local vigilante groups towards fortifying the state against violent crimes.
The Civil Society Organizations urged the Edo State Police Command to review its security strategies and improve its fight against criminals across the 18 local government areas of the state.
Speaking during a protest action carried out along major roads in Benin against ‘high level of insecurity in Edo State’, the group said the security situation in the state had generated concerns following major violent crimes in the state in the last three weeks,
The listed some of the violent crimes as the killing of a senior lecturer at the University of Benin, Prof. Paul Otasowie, the kidnap of Director of Ogba Zoo and Nature Park, Mr. Andrew Ehanire, brother of the minister of health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire on October 24 at the zoo premises while three policemen guarding the facility were killed.
Ehanire was however released on Saturday after three weeks in captivity.
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Two other persons, popular musician, Mr. Joseph Osayomore, and a Catholic priest, Fr. Maurizio Pallu, were also abducted in Benin.
The protesters, who also marched to the Edo State House of Assembly and the Government House, expressed fears that the development could deteriorate, if treated with kid gloves rather than as an emergency.
The Civil Society groups further noted that the situation could lead to mass migration of both citizens and investors from the state and destroy the local economy.
Spokesperson for the CSOs, Omobude Agho said, “The governor must be reminded that as the chief security officer of the state, it is his primary responsibility to protect the lives and property of the citizens as part of the social contract with the people”.
“The government must be sincere in creating sustainable jobs and opportunities for its teeming youths to attain crime rate reduction in the state.”
It would be recalled that another group under the aegis of concerned citizens of Edo State recently protested to the Police Headquarters and the Police Service Commission complaining of the rise in criminality in the state and demanding the removal of the Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Haliru Gwandu.
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