Kwara State commissioner of police, Ebunoluwarotimi Adelesi, yesterday asked cultists to steer clear of the state or face severe consequences.
Adelesi who spoke during her maiden press conference at the police headquarters in Ilorin, the state capital, vowed that there won’t be mercy for anyone caught indulging in cultism in the state.
The police boss added that, “there will be no mercy for cultists. We are not going to spare them. Any information we have about them will be used to clampdown on them.”
She said, “I am happy to observe that Kwara State is noted for having a low crime rate. Despite the low crime rate, it is pertinent to state that the command is not absolutely free from threats. Some of the identified threats are kidnapping, robbery, cultism and allied offences, intra and inter communal clashes as well as road traffic accidents (RTA).”
She stated that the emphasis of the command under her watch shall be on crime prevention.
She said this is borne out of the conviction that the emotional, social, economic and practical costs of victimisation are unquantifiable and extremely burdensome, adding that their resolve to have crime prevention as the major policy thrust is further enhanced by the notion that crime can directly undermine the legitimacy of a state by destroying the trust relationship between the people and the state.
She added that this is because the most important obligation of the state is to ensure the safety of its citizens, consequently, concerted efforts would be made to put in place and sustain strategies which reduce, avoid or eliminate victimisation by crime or violence. She said such strategies include intelligence gathering, intensified anti-crime patrols, cooperation and collaboration with sister security agencies, as well as deployment of quick response squads.
She noted that existing efforts to cooperate and collaborate with the communities will also be enhanced since they are in a good position to contribute to the policing of their environment, adding that these strategies are aimed at preventing the occurrence of crimes by reducing opportunities and increasing the risks of being apprehended.
She said that it is a known fact that the command shares boundaries with Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Kogi and Niger states, and revealed that arrangements are being made to strengthen the existing collaboration between the composite state commands as a way of forestalling felons from taking undue advantage of the interstate boundaries to perpetrate criminal activities.
Adelesi said the police boundary patrol squad domiciled in the state will also be effectively deployed and supervised to forestall cross boundary crime.