Obaseki pledges to rebuild burnt stations, foot Officers medical bills.
By Eben Enasco Kingsley
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, believes that, rebuilding the burnt Police Stations and footing the medical bills of Police Personnel that sustained various degrees of injuries during the Endsars Protests, would rekindle their Morales.
Just as he pleaded with them to return to their duty posts and recover the Public Space in line with the Inspector General of Police, Muhammad Adamu, order following the unwholesome recent criminal rampaging activities over the absence of Police Personnel in the public space.
Obaseki made the appeal when he paid a solidarity visit to the command days after the #EndSARS protest to ascertain the level of destruction caused by the recent developments.
The Governor said their absence on the street and some conspicuous places in the state could easily be interpreted by the hoodlums who hijacked the good intentions of the #EndSARS protest as weakness and cowardice on the part of the police while urging the police to do everything within their powers to quickly correct the wrong impressions.
According to the governor, “The state government will proceed immediately to rebuild all the destroyed buildings; we have already ordered for patrol vehicles, and we hope the delivery will be in the next few weeks, and they will be delivered to you.
“We will be responsible for the hospital bills of every police man or woman who has been hurt as a result of the incident of the last few weeks. Above all, we will make sure we give the necessary assistance which we can, within the limits of resources available to us.
“The legitimate #EndSARS protesters which I asked you to give protection are not the ones who attacked the police stations, the Oko prison and the Sapele Road prison. They were not the ones that attacked police and their property.”
Obaseki continued; “The people who did that were criminals, and they should be treated as such. I am here today to assure you of our support; criminals cannot take over our state, under whatever guise. They should not intimidate you; they should not allow your morale to be low.
“I want to assure you that the Edo State government will work with you very diligently to re-arrest every inmate that escaped from the correctional facility.”
Earlier, the Commissioner of Police, Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, said the presence of the state governor in their midst has boosted their morale to resume and reclaim the state from the hoodlums after the #EndSARS protest.
COMPOL KOKUMO, noted that during the #EndSARS protests, 11 police officers were injured, seven police stations burnt, 16 police patrol vehicles burnt, five police officers’ personal vehicles burnt and 31 exhibit vehicles burnt and destroyed.
The Police gaffer also mentioned that seven AK-47 rifles were recovered, just as he added that, a total of 126 suspects have so far been arrested from the EndSARs protests.
Kokumo disclosed that, out of the 11 injured Personnel, 10 have been discharged from the hospital while one is still at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, receiving treatment.
He, however, appealed to the authority for more support to stem the tide.
According to multiple reports, since the advent of the ENDSARS Protest in Edo State, over one hundred people have been kidnapped whilst ransoms are demanded by fiercely looking gunmen along the Benin Auchi Abuja express way leaving commuters in doubt over their safety.
The continued absence of security Personnel at various flash points in the state, have aided criminal activities, thereby creating fears and palpable insecurities among inhabitants and road users which has warranted calls for Police return to the street.
