The Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Capital Territory Command, Olusola Odumosu, has charged officers and men of the command to engage in active intelligence gathering to tackle the current security challenges in the territory.
Odumosu gave the charge during a briefing with personnel at the command’s headquarters in Abuja.
The FCT is facing an alarming surge in insecurity, prompting growing concerns among residents and authorities.
Recently, six sisters and their father in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT were abducted by bandits on January 13, 2024. The killing of Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, one of the girls, generated anger among Nigerians.
The sisters were among the 23 others abducted by the bandits who reportedly killed a policeman and injured another one during the attack.
One Folorunsho Ariyo was killed alongside Nabeeha by the hoodlums and their corpses and two other unidentified bodies were reportedly dumped around a former military checkpoint behind Idah Junction along the Bwari-Jere SCC Road in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The commandant in a statement signed by the command spokesperson, Idoko Samuel, on Tuesday, decried the influx of bandits, especially in communities located in the hinterlands and the fringes of the FCT.
He urged the personnel to identify the culprits and ensure they are brought to book.
Odumosu said, “The criminals are not ghosts, they are members of the various communities we live in.
“We must therefore intensify efforts by fully activating our intelligence architecture to identify them and ensure they are brought to book.”
“We must therefore intensify efforts by fully activating our intelligence architecture to identify them and ensure they are brought to book.”
He maintained that all hands must be on deck, and called for heightened collaboration and cooperation of his personnel with the people for a seamless exchange of necessary information to bring the fight against insecurity to a logical conclusion.
“While our war against vandals is ongoing, we must beam our searchlight on the issue of kidnapping that has become the order of the day in FCT.
“Without information to work with, there is little or nothing the security agencies can do.
“We must therefore do all we can to bring an end to insecurity by harnessing our areas of strength and using credible intelligence as a tool,” Odumosu added.
The commandant assured residents that the security challenges would be surmountable if everyone played their part.
“Security is everybody’s business and not that of the government or security agencies alone.
“All of us are involved and it is time to join forces to restore peace and security to the FCT”, the commandant urged.
