It Is Time For Us To Fast Track Steps On Community Policing Bill In Response To Ibadan Explosion — House of Rep

By Editor

The Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on ICT, Hon Dhikirulahi Adedeji Stanley Olajide, reiterated on Wednesday the 10th Assembly’s resolve towards the passage of bills on state policing as part of ongoing efforts aimed at tackling the ravaging insecurity across the country.

Hon Dhikirulahi Adedeji Stanley Olajide, member representing Ibadan North West/South West of Oyo State, who gave the assurance during a press briefing held at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, commiserated with Oyo State Government and families of victims of the explosion that occurred in Ibadan on Tuesday night.

He said, “Community policing is one of the smartest ways to police your people. somebody sees something somebody knows something, they need to speak at the right time.

“Failure to do so will cause situation like this. So, we are going to reopen that because, remember, we’ve also been talking about state police; we’ll be talking about community police.

“So, I think you know situations like this would present an urgency to the matter so that that way we can get the right support that we need to pass whatever legislation that we need to pass for this.

“So definitely, we’re going to pick this up, and it’s going to be on the front burner of the activities of the House as soon as we reconvene as a House.”

While reacting to the Tuesday explosion, Hon. Olajide, who applauded the prompt intervention of Governor Seyi Makinde and all the first responders, noted efforts are ongoing to nip the situation on the board.

He said, “We woke up to a very horrific situation in Ibadan, which happened around 8 p.m. last night. Information gathered so far comes from the office of the Governor of Oyo State, whom I must also commend immensely for his rapid response to the situation.

“The dynamite or explosive detonated; we do understand the loss of lives. I do not want to speculate on the number of lives yet because I don’t have those firm numbers yet. But we do know that there are casualties.

“From the Office of the Governor, we also understand that a lot of people are in the hospitals receiving treatment, and the Governor has made commitments to make sure that everybody is taken care of to get the first-class medical treatment that they deserve and are going to get.

“Also, let me say very clearly that I want to commend the first responders, NEMA, the police, DSS, and all the emergency responders that have responded to this urgent call.

“At this point, that area remains a crime scene, which means we have to work with law enforcement to preserve the integrity of that area. I was going to go there this morning, but I was advised against it because going there will also be part of the problem if we go there while the whole area has been cordoned off, so to go there right now, we could polarise the area, and we don’t want to play politics with the lives of our people.

“So, at this point, we’ll let the first responders and all of the security and medical agencies on rescue missions go through their work. And then we’ll now go there with our people and also offer the relief materials because when you have a situation like this.