The Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Aka Ikenga, an Igbo think-tank organization, have given kudos to the Lagos State Government and security operatives in the state over the successful rescue of three schoolgirls abducted from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu Lagos last week.
The APC, in a statement by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Mr. Abiodun Salami, commended the responsible and responsive manner with which both the state government and the police responded to the issue.
Salami, who spoke on behalf of the party, said the spontaneous reaction from both Governor Ambode, his deputy, Dr. (Mrs.) Idiat Oluranti Adebule, who equally oversees the Education Ministry and Mr. Fatai Owoseni, the State Commissioner of Police, was highly commendable, and same expedited the rescue operation.
He maintained that the police in Lagos had been well mobilised and equipped, so they had no reason not to act, even though the opposition PDP questioned the rationale of the government using the state’s fund to provide the police with modern vehicles and equipment to work with, adding that the gesture is now paying off.
He added: “You see, the Inspector General of Police was involved; the Police Commissioner was physically involved and everybody united and worked very hard for the success of the rescue operation. We condemn the barbaric action but thank God, it is now history,” the APC spokesman said.
He, however, maintained that due to the way the state government under an APC gas been handling the issue of crime, the state has been under constant surveillance, hence the abducted school girls were able to be freed within one week.
Similarly, Goddy Uwazuruike, President, Aka Ikenga, commended the state government for the prompt response, adding that the development was a pointer to the fact that government must take necessary action immediately before situation degenerates beyond control.
On his part, Constitutional lawyer and rights activist, Jiti Ogunye said the abduction of the school girls was a wake-up call for the country to accept state police, embrace technology and deplore the concept of communalism to tackle crime. .
“The Ikorodu kidnap incident again has brought to the fore the crisis of security in Nigeria and I think the way to deal with the matter especially stopping it from reoccurring is to break up the police force and make the police to be very local.
“For instance, in the United States of America, every University Campus has its policemen; every County (Local Government) has its policemen and every State has its own police, while the Federal Government has the FBI, Marine Police, Airforce and all that. The point I’m making is that if Ikorodu Local Government has its policemen well trained, well armed and properly integrated into the national security architecture, such incident would have been adequately repelled, and the girls would not have been taken away in the first place,” Ogunye said.