Fayemi pledges support for new Ekiti Police Commissioner

Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti has assured the new Commissioner of Police, Mr Babatunde Mobayo, of support to reduce crime to the barest minimum in the state.

Fayemi, represented by his deputy, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi, gave the promise on Monday in Ado-Ekiti, while receiving the new police boss, who was on a courtesy visit to his office.

According to him, the support will enable the police chief improve on the security of lives and property in the state.

The governor said that his administration would always work in synergy with the command so as not to give any breathing space to criminals within the state.

“The information will be distilled to nip crime in the bud and make the people sleep with their two eyes closed,” the governor said.

He advised the new CP to operate an open door policy by carrying the people of the state along, especially in the area of intelligence gathering.

He stressed that security of lives and property and crime prevention were efforts to be jointly performed by the government, the police and the people.

“Ekiti land always favours those whoever works for its peace, progress and prosperity,” he said.

The governor expressed confidence in the ability of the CP to live up to expectation in his new assignment.

Earlier, Mobayo said that the courtesy visit was to familiarise himself with the governor and other state officials as well as to seek their support in order to succeed in his task in the state.

He promised to work with other officers in his command to improve the security architecture of the state, saying, however, that this would not be possible without the cooperation of all stakeholders.

He urged members of the public to always volunteer information about criminals and their activities to the police.

The CP said that the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, had tasked all CPs across the country to adopt community policing as a crime fighting strategy in the grassroots, where criminals could be easily tracked and their activities thwarted.

He expressed confidence that with the support of Ekiti residents, criminals would be chased away, as the command was better positioned to work with the people to ensure safe and crime-free state.

Mobayo noted that the rate of crime in Ekiti state was relatively low when compared with other states.

He also solicited for the support of the media, which he described as the ‘eyes and the ears of the people’, with the command in exposing criminals and in giving adequate publicity to police activities.