By Managing Editor.
Residents of Iju-Ishaga community and environs have commended the Nigeria Police, Iju Division for stepping up action this year to deal with cults’ upheavals and violent activities in the area, particularly their annual rituals of dangerous attacks of maiming and destruction of lives and property at the approach of every August 8.
This year’s outing by these miscreant cultists was frustrated by the proactive action of the officers and men of the Iju Division of the Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police by laying ambush a day before, arresting their leaders and confronting them at their hide-outs in order to nip their violent activities in the bud.
Apart from dealing with the cult activities, the Police have also reactivated and stepped up their Anti-Robbery Squad (ARS) which conducts daily patrols to fish out bad elements in the area, particularly robbers, pick-pockets and petty thieves in all the nooks and crannies of Iju-Ishaga and its environs thereby helping the residents to sleep at nights with their two eyes closed.
Residents attest to this new development since a new Divisional Police Officer (DPO), a woman, was posted to the area who changed the security situation of Iju. They call her the ‘Iron Lady’ who is said to be a no nonsense person, always joining her officers and men in their patrols, leading from the front, not from the rear to confront the bandits.
Iya Risikat, Mrs Salamatu Opeyemi, a market woman, is a resident of Iju. Hear her summation about the new security development and the exploits of the woman DPO: “Oga journalist I am happy you came to ask me about the security situation in Iju area before and now so that I can tell you my mind.
“Let me tell you that my husband and I have planned to pack out of Iju at the end of this year because I was a victim of these bad elements last year when they used all my bottles in the shop to fight and wound themselves and other innocent people during one of their cult fracas, but we are changing our minds now because of the security improvement we have been witnessing for the past few months.
She continued: “They told me that the improvement is as a result of a woman the Police brought to Iju as the DPO for the past three months now. They say she leads her officers and men to confront the criminals who disturb us day and night without end in the past, thereby creating fear in us of either staying at home or going out to look for our daily bread.
“This woman has done wonderfully well in our area that we can now enjoy relative peace for some time since she came. She has done what all other DPOs who were men could not do because Iju has had its own fair share of criminal activities in the past”.
Another resident, Mr. Peter Banjoko, a civil servant, confirmed what Mrs. Opeyemi said by thanking the new Police DPO posted to Iju of upping the ante in the security architecture of the area.
His words: “I Like the security situation of Iju now than before because it has improved beyond my imagination. All the criminals in this area who have been harassing us here have either disappeared or have left the Iju area for fear of being arrested or shot in their nefarious activities.
“I had anticipated what was going to happen on August 8 when the cultists sail at Ishaga area with their violent destruction of property and maiming of people, but I was surprised on that day everything was nipped in the bud by the police and we had peace in our area.
“The Police indeed, is now mustering courage than ever before, to confront these bad boys who had in the past been a thorn in our flesh. I wish them (Police) well, and hope they will sustain the tempo, going forward”.
