The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu has said that the state’s police command will do everything in its capacity to unravel the causes of recent fire outbreaks in the state.
He added that his command would continue to strive to ensure that the people of the state sleep with their two eyes closed in this new year 2020.
The police commissioner gave the assurance during the decoration of senior officers and media briefing for the year 2020 held at Police Officers’ Mess, Eleyele, Ibadan.
While reflecting on the Command’s activities for the year 2019 and the projection for the 2020, Mr Shina Olukolu commended the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu for his support in terms of equipment, personnel and welfare.
“In 2019, the Oyo State police command did not do badly, we want to give glory to God as well as thank the Inspector General of Police for giving us the platform, the support for the duration of 2019, in terms of equipment, personnel, and welfare under the supervision of AIG Zone 11, Mr Leye Oyebade.
“In year 2020, we promise, we are going to continue to strive to do more so that the people of Oyo State can go to bed with their two eyes closed. And one of the reasons we are here today is to review what we did in 2019”.
He added “as to what is to be expected in the year 2020, we can tell ourselves some home truths of what we have done well, what we have not done very well and what we have done poorly, so that after the review, we will all go back to readjust and re-jig our strategies to ensure that 2020 is better than 2019.”
Speaking on the newly promoted senior officers in the command, Mr. Olukolu stated that the promotion will motivate the men to put in more effort and discharge their duties professionally.
His words, “Promotion is a thing of joy to anybody, anyone in any service, this time around in the Nigeria Police. I had five Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACP) promoted to Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) and six Chief Superintendents of Police (CSP) promoted to Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACP). I want to seize this opportunity to thank the Inspector General of Police for being gracious in his recommendations and forwarding the names of these officers to the Police Service Commission, which in turn gave approval to IGP’s recommendation, and that has served as a motivator.”
On the issue of gunshots that led to the death of one boy and three others injured during the fire incident at Akesan Market in Oyo Town over the weekend, Mr. Olukolu explained that his men were on ground to prevent hoodlums from taking advantage to loot the shops.
“The fact of the matter if you remember that a couple of days ago, I put out a press release that we are concerned about the rate of fire incidents across the state, and we advised people to be weary, to be cautious and to take cognizance of the fact that this is harmattan period and fire incidents are common place. It was unfortunate that yesterday again, there were series of fire outbreaks, one at a furniture factory at Iyaganku, one at a market in Omi-Adio, another one at a popular market, Akesan in Oyo Town.
“It was the frustration of not being attended to quickly that made people to be agitated to the extent that from around 2.30am, we had to get in touch with the Fire Service agency in Ibadan to move their trucks all the way from Ibadan to Akesan Market in Oyo Town, and because of that, people became unruly, hoodlums wanted to take advantage but we resisted and prevented them from doing that. Unfortunately, there was a report that sister security agency came on the scene with a view to providing assistance in securing the environment.
“However, there were gunshots, which we are still investigating and unfortunately there was a needless death of a young boy and three others who were injured and these ones are recuperating in the hospital. There were reports that the police fired a shot. I categorically say no, the police didn’t fire a single shot, the police were at the scene to prevent hoodlums from looting the shops and they were under the leadership of Divisional Police Officer, Atiba and Area Commander, Doba, Oyo, both of them were around from 2.30am till we were able to bring the inferno under control. The police are investigating the cause of the fire outbreaks and we will unravel the causes,” the CP concluded.
Packaged by Kunle Gazali
