Robbers kill cop, IG wants states to help fund police
From Ifedayo Sayo (Ado-Ekiti) and
Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna)
A POLICEMAN was at the weekend killed in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital during a gun duel with suspected armed robbers.
Also at the weekend, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun asked state governors to make provisions for the police in their yearly budgets.
The five robbers, who arrived in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday morning, had allegedly converged at a popular cosmetic shop very close to the post-office, where they were sighted drinking beer.
They started their operation later in the afternoon at Basiri area of the town, where they reportedly snatched a Mercedes Benz E Class from the owner of a filling station located on Iyin Road.
The victim was said to have reported the incident at the state Police Command, prompting the officers to go out in a large number after the armed robbers.
After combing the entire town and its environs, the police reportedly found the vehicle abandoned along new Ilawe by-pass.
But the robbers, however, ran out of luck at about 5.30 p.m when a policeman reported that he had sighted the robbers in a green Honda Civic car. He quickly alerted the Ado-Ekiti divisional police officer, one Mr. Azeez.
Azeez was said have mobilised his men and trailed the robbers in a sports utility van (SUV) and another vehicle belonging to a police officer in the state command.
The team caught up with the robbers after they were in a heavy traffic on Old Garage Road in the town.
The police then apprehended the robbers, who were not aware that they were being chased.
Believing that the end had come, the robbers started shooting to enable them to get away. In the process, they shot a policeman in uniform.
After two minutes of gun duel, the police successfully rounded up the five robbers. The leader of the robbers sustained serious injuries during the exchange with the police and died before medical treatment could come his way.
The only policeman who was killed by the robbers was said to be preparing for his wedding with another female police officer. The wedding had been fixed for next month.
The remains of the policeman have been deposited at the state Specialist Hospital mortuary.
Efforts to get the state police commissioner to speak on the robbery failed as he was said to be unavailable.
The Inspector-General, who was in Kaduna State at the weekend to commission 50 vehicles and several motorcycles purchased by the state government for the use of the police and other security agencies, stated that democracy could only thrive in a secure environment.
Balogun said: "If the 36 state governors agree to make adequate provisions to support crime-fighting in the country, this will go along way in checking criminal activities."
He added that the Federal Government alone was not capable of meeting the financial requirements of the police.
Balogun described crime-fighting as capital-intensive and noted that it was not possible to have a crimeless society.
He said: "We should have a tolerable level of crime for people to go about their normal businesses. We (police) have the human resources but we lack materials. The Federal Government alone cannot provide enough support for the police. Security is the foundation of governance, without security there can never be good governance. State governors should see it as a good thing to provide support for the police in their annual budgets," he stated.
The state Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi remarked that the state and local government councils jointly provided funds for the purchase of the vehicles and motorcycles, which were bought for the use of security agencies in the state to check criminals.
