DELTA State Commissioner of Police, CP Abaniwonda Olufemi says he has despatched a team of Policemen led by an Area Commander to the scene of the vandalised portion of the Second Niger Bridge.
The CP disclosed this while playing host to Executive members of the Asaba Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists NUJ accompanied by some of the elders of the Chapel, led by the Chairman, Comrade Ifeanyi Olannye on a courtesy visit, Tuesday.
He stated that “when the news came to us yesterday (Monday), I quickly despatched my Area Commander to go and look at it and ensure that the place is secure.
“We called the Engineer here in Delta the man said is not in his area that it is Anambra. I asked them (the Police team led by the Area Commander) to remain there. They have called the Engineer in Anambra.
“Those things (vandalised rail fittings) are so heavy and you would be asking how did they remove them”, said the CP.
Recall that The Townhall has reported about the latest vandalisation of the bridge in which installed rail fittings were uprooted by unknown vandals, thereby turning the bridge into a death trap especially at night.
Continuing, the CP said, “This brings me to what I said earlier. They are on drugs.
The level of abuse of drugs among our youths is extremely high.
I spent time in the North; that is why these scavengers in the local parlance known as ‘Iron Condemn’. They are also a source of criminality. I am not outrightly accusing them but if you look at it they too take drugs. You can’t believe it if you put this house if possible in their sack they can carry it”.
The CP expressed joy that since the ban on ‘Okada’ and ‘Iron Condemn’ there is a lot of down trend in crime across the State, pointing out that he played a major role in getting the government to place the ban following the upsurge in crime traceable to them (‘Okada’ and ‘Iron Condemn’ ).
“A lot of these ‘Okada’ people don’t even have registration number even when they commit a traffic offence there is no way you can trace them”.
He called on the press to partner with the command, saying, “we are going to ask for your continuous partnership; if you (press) do not project or do not talk about what we do there is no way that the populace will know what it is that is going on. Without the Fourth Estate of the Realm anything you do is a waste of time even government too”.
Earlier, the Chairman of Asaba Correspondents’ Chapel, Comrade Ifeanyi Olannye asked the State Police command to sustain its efforts in crime fighting and prevention, assuring that members of the Chapel will not relent in giving adequate coverage to the activities of the command in a professional manner.
