Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki on Monday appealed to officers of Edo State Police command to return to streets to perform their statutory roles in policing the society, maintaining law and order.
Obaseki, who made the appeal during a solidarity visit to the state command headquarters in Benin City, promised to rebuild the burnt police stations, foot medical bills of injured police officers and purchase patrol vehicles for the command.
He also disclosed that the curfew which is from 6am to 6pm in the state maybe lifted after an assessment in the next 24 hours.
He noted that just as many other institutions, the Nigeria Police Force need reforms and government at all levels have taken necessary steps to make changes and improvements for effective service delivery.
The governor, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the #EndSARS protest that turned violent by the infiltration of hoodlums.
“The EndSARS protesters were not the ones who attacked police stations, injured policemen, the people who did that were criminals and should be treated as such.
“Yes, we require reforms and that process has already started. The federal government has acceded and the state government has set up judicial panel of inquiry to investigate.
“Criminals can not take over our land. We will go after each and everyone of the escaped inmates and we will arrest them. They can not spend Christmas with us, they have to spend Christmas where they are supposed to.
“Edo State government will now proceed immediately to begin to rebuild your destroyed building. We already ordered some patrol vehicles and we hope it will be delivered in the next few weeks. We will be responsible for the hospital bills of every officers who have been hurt in the last few weeks”, he said.
He assured the authorities of the police command that the state government would work diligently to ensure that escaped inmates from both correctional centers are rearrested.
Earlier, the state Commissioner of Police, Johnson Kokumo said the governor’s visit to the headquarter has lifted the spirit of the officers.
Kokumo assured the people of the state a secure and safe environment where crime and criminality are reduced to the barest minimum.
He explained that 11 officers of the command sustained various degree of injuries during the protest.
He, however, appealed to the state government to rebuild burnt stations, purchase patrol vehicles and provide succour for police officers who were injured by suspected hoodlums.
