Obasa

Eromosele Ebhomele

Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday appealed to the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, to intensify security of lives and property of residents as the world marches towards the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Majority Leader of the House, Sanai Agunbiade, who moved the motion, explained that the call was necessary to curtail the activities of hoodlums during Christmas and New Year celebration.

He also prayed the House to review the Neighbourhood Watch Law to give the officers more powers to carry out surveillance and intelligence gathering. Agunbiade brought the attention of the House to some ladies, whose corpses were dumped on a road in Ikorodu recently.

Speaking on the motion which was seconded by the Chief Whip, Rotimi Abiru, a member of the House, Adefunmilayo Tejuosho expressed worry over the spate of the killings adding that people must know that killing other people is a criminal offence and that it is worrisome that such a thing is happening at this material time.

According to Tejuosho, carrying of arms should be restricted to those who have the authority to do so.

Speaker Mudashiru Obasa stated that everything could not be left for the police alone, suggesting that the Assembly could come up with relevant laws as there are constant cases of murder, robbery and others in the state.

Contributing, Tobun Abiodun, a lawmaker, said ritual killing was now rampant in the state and that bodies of four ladies were found somewhere in the Alimosho area of the state few months back.

He added that the issue is a general one across the state, and that the Neighbourhood Watch should be strengthened so that they could work effectively.

In his contribution, Rotimi Olowo noted the barbarism in ritual killings while revealing that four men were slaughtered in Shomolu area of the state recently. “We should use what we have to get what we want. We should strengthen our Neighbourhood Watch so that they could assist the police in combating crimes in the state,” he said.

His position was supported by Bisi Yusuf, who said that an officer of the Neighbourhood Watch in Alimosho Area once assisted in arresting 15 armed robbers, but that the man was eventually killed.

For Yusuf, the police alone cannot handle the security issues in a largely populated state like Lagos in spite of the huge amount of money recently spent on buying equipment for them by the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.

He said if half of that amount was spent on Neighbourhood Watch it would have gone a long way in helping them to work effectively.

-@selemele2