Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, of the Lagos State Police Command, Bala Elkana, has dismissed as misleading reports in the media that the Commander in charge of Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in Lagos, CSP Peter Gana was sacked.
In a statement Elkana, confirmed that the officer was redeployed to Kaduna on the orders of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Adamu on another assignment.
“CP Hakeem Odumosu commends the giant stride made by the outgone Officer in charge of SARS, CSP Peter Gana in confronting criminal elements in the State and his ability to firmly supervise and coordinate the activities of Officers and men under his control”
CSP Gana is redeployed to Kaduna State by the Inspector General of Police for another assignment’, the statement reads.
It added: ‘Lagos State Police Command has in the last six months witnessed a huge decrease in crime rate due to the strategies put in place by the seasoned crime fighting Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu psc. From November 2019 to date the Command has successfully foiled 136 armed robbery attempts and arrested 129 armed robbery suspects, 44 firearms of different calibre with large caches of ammunition were recovered, 146 suspects were arrested for murder and 198 for cultism and gang violence.
“These were achieved through the efforts of dedicated and hardworking Police Officers mainly from the SARS and other tactical units of the Command”
A new Officer has been put in charge of SARS in Lagos. The new OC, CSP Kehinde Johnson has been encouraged ‘to build on the successes recorded by his predecessor and to also bring his wealth of experience to bear in piloting the affairs of the Command’s Special Anti Robbery Squad.
It would be recalled that an online media, TheCaveat.info had on 13th May 2020 released a report titled ‘Increasing Criminal Cases in Lagos: Odumosu sacks Anti-Robbery Unit Head for non-performance’ in which the AIG in charge of Zone 2, Ahmed Iliyasu and Lagos Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu were said to be having sleepless nights because of shoddy investigation of robbery cases.
This was said to lead to “several moves were made by top officers in Lagos to redeploy him but top officers at the Force Headquarters have thwarted such moves”.
Unsubstantiated claims such as these could cause disarray among the rank and file in the Force. And it will not mean goodwill for all and sundry, thus the Police PPRO advised media professionals to confirm reports before publishing.