The new Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mr. Mobolaji Odesanya, has said hoodlums operating in the state were armed with sophisticated weapons.
Odesanya disclosed this on Monday in Port Harcourt when he paid a courtesy visit to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak, in Port Harcourt.
The CP visited the REC in order to ascertain the security arrangement at the state office of the election umpire.
He also promised to visit INEC Offices in the 23 Local Government Areas of the state so as to solidify security arrangement around the facilities.
Addressing newsmen shortly after his meeting with the REC, Odesanya noted that there was security challenges in every part of the world, but regretted that the gangs in Rivers State were different based on the kind of guns they used.
He said the effort of the police in the state was to retrieve those weapons from the criminal elements troubling the state.
He said, “The primary reason for this visit is to see the nature of security at INEC office, to see what you have on the ground in terms of security. Based on the attack on one of your offices, I will visit your offices in the 23 LGAs of the state. I will ensure that such attack does not repeat.
“The police have been on the ground, we have been rescuing kidnap victims. The Inspector General of Police also sent more men, as I speak kidnapping in the state is now at the debris.
“The issue in Rivers State is that there is over proliferation of arms. It is not that these things are not happening in other places, but the problem is that they have sophisticated weapons. We are on a mop-up action to see that those weapons are retrieved.”
Odesanya vowed that the police would stamp out crime in the state, also ensured that those weapons would be seized and there would be peace in the state.
Responding, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak, said the commission would prefer to conduct election in a well secured and peaceful environment.
While congratulating the CP on his new office and for the visit, Ikoiwak urged him to hit the ground running on the new responsibility.
Ikoiwak stated that the rerun election was postponed because the commission did not meet up with its plans, even as he noted that the 30 July earlier fixed for the election was tentative.
The INEC boss said the rerun elections in some LGAs of the state would be concluded soon, maintaining that the commission would remain incorruptible.
