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| ODUMOSU |
Some
policemen in the Lagos State Police Command have raised funny complaints
against the state’s commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, stressing that he
was working them to their bones over issues that have to do with control of
gridlock.
These
complaints came amidst Odumosu reeling out his achievements as the number one
policeman in the state, having spent 55 days in office. The CP, while reeling
out his achievements, mentioned that another set of 1000 policemen would be
deployed to join the first set of 1000, to manage traffic. Some policemen must
have groaned when he mentioned that.
According to
the complaining policemen, Odumosu doesn’t sleep, was always working round the
clock for reasons they do not understand or comprehend and also expected them
to march his tireless strides.
One of them
said: “Honestly, we don’t understand the new CP. He used to work with the Presidential
Task Team on Apapa Gridlock, Lagos State. Perhaps he thinks he is still working
with the unit. He deployed 1000 policemen to manage traffic and has been
arresting the same policemen, over what he called dereliction of duty. He would
go out at night to start controlling traffic. Whenever he goes out at night for
patrol, he would go to the highways, if he finds a policeman or woman sitting,
while Lagos State Traffic Management (LASTM) officials are controlling traffic,
he would arrest the policeman himself and detained him. We’re tired. The cell
at Command is full of policemen detained by the CP.”
While the
grumbling continued, Odumosu, on Wednesday, revealed how the deployment of 1000
policemen to different highways in Lagos, saved the hectic traffic situation in
the state.
It will be
recalled that Odumosu took over the Lagos State Police Command mantle of
leadership on November 14, 2019, in the peak of the Lagos gridlock, where
Lagosians spent close to five hours at a spot, caused mostly by bad roads and
traffic law violators. Immediately he ascended the throne, he promised that he,
his lieutenants and foot soldiers would do everything possible to tackle the
Lagos gridlock and check resurgence of traffic robberies.
Thus, while
the policemen were being stretched to man the highways, the Lagos State
Government relentlessly pursued the fixing of bad roads.
Beaming with
pride of achievements, Odumosu, yesterday, revealed modules deployed to check
traffic in the mega city.
His words: “The
last 55 days were quite eventful and tasking for us. The first major challenge
I met was gridlock in different parts of the state which has a strong link with
traffic related crimes such as traffic robbery. As a strong believer of
problem solving approach, teamwork and stakeholders’ engagement and
participation, I summoned an emergency meeting of all Area Commanders, Area
Operation Officers, State Traffic Officers, Divisional Traffic Officers and
Traffic Officers in the Command.
“We
collectively identified the major causes of traffic congestions in the affected
areas and agreed on workable solutions. It is because of the urgency the
situation presented, that I declared a state of emergency on traffic and
followed it up with the deployment of additional 1000 Police Officers for
traffic duties. We equally reviewed their reporting and closing time to 10am
and 10pm against the initial 6am and 6pm so as to meet up with traffic peak
periods. I had a meeting with other stakeholders in security and traffic
management where we agreed on multi agencies collaborations.”
He explained
that the Command, with the support of the Lagos State Government deployed 200 motorcycles
to various parts of the state for traffic control and to also combat the menace
of traffic robbery.
“We took a
step forward by reintroducing the Mobile Court system to prosecute traffic laws
violators. This was done with the support of Lagos State Judiciary and Ministry
of Justice Lagos State. Our mantra remains ‘Traffic must flow in Lagos State,’”
said the CP.
He noted that the operations successfully
witnessed the prosecution of 75 traffic violators, leading to 75 vehicles being
impounded. He disclosed that among the offenders, 28 were arrested for driving
against traffic, while the rest were arrested for indiscriminate parking and
causing obstructions by clubbers and customers of some factories.
He further
said: “From the feedbacks received from citizens and eminent personalities in
the state, it is gratifying to state that, the traffic situation is improving
on daily basis. That also informed the free flow of traffic and zero traffic
robbery incident experienced during the yuletide period. In order to
consolidate on the gains recorded so far, additional one thousand personnel are
being injected into the operation.”
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