Police Set to Partner With Herbalists to Fight Kidnappers and Ritualists in Ogun...See Details

As the fight against criminal activities by unscrupulous individuals continues around Nigeria, the police has adopted a rather unconventional method to tackle crime.

Men of the Nigeria Police

 

Ahmed Iliyasu, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, has called on traditional medicine practitioners in the state to help the police tackle “kidnapping and human parts” business. 

 

According to Vanguard, the police boss made the call in Sango-Ota, while declaring open a one-day workshop on Effective Policing: Role of Traditional Medicine Practitioners.

 

The workshop was organised by the Police Community Relations Committee, PCRC, for the alternative medicine practitioners in the state. Iliyasu said the body could assist by “regularising their practice, carry out membership registration to eliminate quacks and also screen their clients to ascertain the genuineness and legality of the help they seek.”

 

The CP said that the only way the police could succeed in providing adequate security for lives and properties is to maintain a cordial relationship with the citizens, urging the people of Ogun to help the police with valid information.

 

On the cooperation with herbalists, the Police Commissioner, Iliyasu said: “We have concern for security of lives and properties. For us to carry out effective policing we need first hand information.

 

“There are some people who believe that the only way they can survive is through criminal activities; we will hunt them down. We have got a new police, which is ready to protect the rights of the people.

 

“We are here to make Ogun State stable, sanitise the society and say no to brutality. Make sure your hands are clean: regularise and formalise what you are doing.

 

“Help us to make the state free of kidnapping, cultism and dealings in human parts. Assess your clients to ascertain the genuineness and legality of the help they seek from you.

 

“If you observe anything suspicious, contact the police and whatever information you give will be kept in confidence and do not settle matter at the corner. The era of pranks is over.” 

 

The Chairman, PCRC in the state, Ibraheem Olaniyan, said the essence of the workshop was to raise the awareness level of alternative medicine practitioners to issues of crimes in the state. Olaniyan added that the PCRC was “tired of reports of imams, pastors and herbalists caught with human parts or defiling a teenager” in the state.

 

The lead Speaker and former Zonal Police Public Relations Officer, Zone 2 (Lagos and Ogun), Muyiwa Adejobi, said security and effective policing are collective responsibilities.