By Emmanuel Oluwadola
& Inioluwa Boroficce

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Nigerians have been charged to rise up and support security personnel in the fight to defeat insecurity so that it does not defeat the country.

Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Asabi gave the charge while speaking in an exclusive interview with The Hope Line Editors, yesterday.

During his visit to Owena Press Limited headquarters, publisher of The Hope newspaper, he also paid a courtesy call on the company’s Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Sir Ademola Adetula, MFR.

He stressed that if Nigerians refused to rise in support of the Police in combating insecurity and other social vices plaguing the country, it may mar the country.

He said the police cannot be at everywhere at the same time, stating that members of the public must assist the police in intelligence gathering and offer the needed support when the need arises.

“If we look at the trajectory of this country in terms of crime, you would discover that crime has been very much dynamic. When you go to the Northeast, you see something different, Northwest and Southwest are a little bit different. In Ondo State, it has been fairly good.

“But if the people are not ready to cooperate with the police, we may not be able to do it alone. It is not easy for a single organisation to police this country alone. Even though countries abroad are succeeding today, they also have their challenges. We need to work together with the police and other security agencies.

“Like I used to say, if you do not fight crime, crime will fight you. If you do not defeat crime, crime will defeat you. That is just the truth,” the CP posited.

Asabi further hinted that cybercrime is on the increase because of loss of our value system .

He, however, disclosed that the Nigeria Police Force have established cybercrime unit, and upgrading it to outwit cybercrime criminals.

“There must be a reason why the trend of social vices keeps rising. Considering the way things are going in this country now. I will say some of the reasons why cybercrime is rising is because of our poor value system. Some people are aiding people who are into cybercrime and covering them. 

“On the criminal rate, we don’t need to shift blame. If a child is born, he or she is not given to the police to nurture. Before a child becomes an adult, it starts with the family, a community, the local government, and up like that. Everybody has a role to play. If you play your role and the police play their role, then we will be able to stem the tide,” he said.

The Ondo CP assured that the new IGP is working on upgrading the intelligence department of the police to help stem problems before they arise.

Speaking on the effort of the state security police called Amotekun, he noted that continuous synergy with the state police will always yield positive results in security in the state.

“If we have outings collaborating with the police as security agencies and they are doing very well, there would be results.

“Let us assume we are fighting a core enemy. If I am fighting from here and you are fighting from there, don’t you know that we would be able to do better than if you are sleeping and you leave the fighting alone for me?

“So I cannot say if state police is better than Amotekun because we have not reached the other side. But all I can say is that this intervention is an initiative that is synergising with the police. If there is synergy, it is okay,” he said.

The commissioner addressed the issue of attacks on police stations, stating that police are the friend of the people but the enemy of criminals.

“Attacking police stations has to do with criminality. We cannot see a law-abiding citizens, an innocent man, who is doing his lawful duties and will go to a police station and start attacking it. The police are the enemy of criminals, not the enemy of people.