By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has charged the new Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police in charge of Zone 7 Headquarters Abuja, Kayode Egbetokun to intensity the fight against crime and criminality in the Territory.
The Minister made this charge when the AIG led a delegation of senior police officers from the zone on a courtesy visit to the FCTA on Wednesday, 4th January 2023.
According to him, a lot of progress has been made in the fight against serious crime such as kidnapping especially in the rural areas of the FCT with the arrest of kidnappers as well as their financiers and supporters.
This has led to the rescue of many victims and called on the AIG to ensure that the progress recorded continues, he noted
The Minister said, “I want to say that within the recent past, a lot of progress has been made by your officers and men, starting from your zone, the Command of the FCT, as well as the DPO levels and I think this is very commendable.”
“The issue of kidnapping had been of grave concern especially to our rural communities. I’m very happy that tremendous success has been recorded in the last few weeks, resulting in a lot of releases, rescue and also arrest of those who are involved, including their financiers and their supporters. I pray that this continues.”
Furthermore, he described the relationship between the FCT Administration and the police Zonal Command as a very long symbiotic partnership in which the FCTA will continue to provide the needed support and requirement to the police to enable it effectively carry out its responsibilities; which will ultimately augur well for the country and send out the right signals to the international community.
Bello urged the new AIG to work hard in his new post and wished him the best saying that serving in the FCT has a lot of advantages.
He said, “Serving in the FCT has a lot of advantage. If you work very well, easily, it is seen. If you look at the history of all those who served as AIG Zone 7, most of them ended up being propelled to higher responsibilities. My prayer to you is that you will serve well here and may God make it easy for you and make you have a very successful tenure.”
The new AIG Kayode Egbetokun said that the primary purpose of his visit to the FCTA was to express his appreciation to the FCT Minister for his commitment to ensuring security in the FCT and for the support granted to Zone 7 and FCT Police Command, especially for the operational vehicles given to the police in 2022.
AIG Egbetokun said, “I thank you very much for the commitment that you have shown for the protection of lives and property in the FCT. I also want to assure you that those vehicles you gave us have been put into judicious use and they have seriously impacted on operations within the FCT.”
” I am also here to assure you that we are doing our best to support your efforts in protecting lives and properties in the FCT.”
The FCT, AIG Egebtokun reiterated the Zonal Command’s commitment to the FCT.
He said, “We are improving on our deployment every day. We are doing our best and working so hard to ensure that there is efficient utilization of resources available at our disposal.”
“We are constantly reviewing and reassessing our anti-crime strategies with a view to evolving new strategies that will meet evolving challenges. We are committed to the training of our officers and men to ensure that they are sensitive to the rule of law and that they are committed to protection of human rights”. the AIG added.
