4th October, 2015
Tambari Yabo Muhammad, an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), says police have intensified community partnerships in efforts to track down cattle rustlers and other hoodlums terrorising residents of Katsina State and other neighbouring states.
Yabo, the AIG in charge of Zone One, who said this on Sunday in an interactive session with Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) in Funtua, urged the people to redouble their efforts to provide useful information on the criminals to the police.
He said that the police were determined to ensure the maximum success of the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to fight terrorism, corruption and generate employment in the country.
He said that the government’s decision to recruit 10,000 policemen in the country, introduce a police housing policy and enhance the welfare of security personnel was part of its efforts to promote a safe and crime-free society.
The AIG, however, stressed that community members ought to be actively involved in the struggle against terrorism and corruption by exposing all suspicious movements and refusing to offer or take bribes in all circumstances.
Yabo said that police had arrested a gang of armed robbers terrorising Dayi and Gora communities in Malumfashi Local Government Area and other communities along the Kano-Funtua road.
He enjoined policemen and officers to embrace the new government’s initiatives and refrain from all dubious transactions, warning that those found wanting would be sanctioned accordingly.
He noted that allegations of corruption were more rampant in the public service, adding, however, that allegations of corruption in the police had attracted more public concern since policemen ought to be law enforcement agents and crime fighters.
The police chief lauded the efforts of the Funtua Zonal Police Command to curb cattle rustling in nine local government areas in Katsina State and commended the support of local vigilante groups and residents of the communities in the campaign.
Yabo commended the cordial relations existing between the police, transport unions, traders’ unions, traditional institutions and government agencies in Funtua Local Government Area and in Katsina State at large.
Speaking, Alhaji Lawal Garba, the Chairman of the Funtua PCRC, called for the revival of police-community sports championships and other social interactions, saying that this will go a long way to rejuvenate the cordial relations that existed between the police and community members in the past.
He, however, pledged increased community support for security activities and urged the people to report all suspicious movements to the police so as to ensure a crime-free society.
Earlier, Mr Salisu Gyadi-Gyadi, the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Funtua Zonal Police Command, said that cases of cattle rustling had drastically reduced in the neighbourhood, while pledging the increased commitment of the officers and men in the command to duty.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gyadi-Gyadi later guided the AIG on an inspection tour of the police barracks in Funtua and other police formations in Funtua Local Government Area.