Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki on Monday, visited victims of the failed Igarra bank robbery incident in Akoko Edo local government area of the state, which claimed the lives of six persons, including three members of the robbery gang.
The governor said his administration would support the families of those who died as a result of the robbery and take care of the burial costs.
He assured that effort was being intensified to forestall such attacks in the future as the state government would train a total of 1800 youths, 100 from each local government area of the state to strengthen the state’s security architecture.
Obaseki disclosed that the police was studying the footage of the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras for possible lead to the other members of the criminal gang that escaped during the exchange of fire with the police.
The governor restated his administration’s readiness to protect lives and properties of Edo people as well as residents.
“As a government we need to critically look at the situation and ensure it will not happen again. Our primary mandate is to protect life and property. I am here with heads of the security agencies to get first-hand information and ensure such an incident doesn’t happen again,” Obaseki said.
Disclosing that he would visit the Inspector General of Police in Abuja to give us a special squad to help us eliminate these heinous crimes, the governor further said that he had held meetings with the governors of some of the neighbouring states on the need to form a border patrol team that would strengthen security in our communities.
Obaseki said the state was set to launch the security architecture that had received huge professional input, and decried the role of the police officer who arrested and detained some persons that were killed by the robbers, when they attacked the police station.
While assuring that the police officer would be charged to court, as his motive was to extort money from the citizens, Obaseki appealed to the two banks in the locality to reopen for business promising to beef up security for their operations.
The governor earlier visited a victim of the attack at Alafia Specialist Clinic and another victim, Obende Shakede, who sustained bullet wound at his residence on Momodu Ajayi Road. He was also at the bank to inspect the havoc done by the robbers.
The Chairman of Akoko-Edo Local Government Area, Hon. Don Umoro, thanked the governor for the visit, stressing that the incident happened at a time when the area was almost getting used to enduring peace after the last attack in 2015.
The community representative, Sunday Mayaki, called on the government to help fence the police station to hinder easy access and urged the governor to help strengthen community vigilante group to assist security agencies in the area.
