By Newsmata
Edo State’s first female Commissioner of Police, (CP) Betty Enekpen Otimenyin, on familiarisation visit to the state council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Wednesday, spelt out her mission in the state which is to create a safe environment for residents, visitors and those in the Diaspora, and for tourism, investments and businesses to thrive.
CP Otimenyin also asserted that there would be no compromising issues of rape and defilement because she has sympathy for victims and would not allow such cases to be swept under the carpet. Rather, she promised to ensure that the department of the police that handles these cases gives justice to all victims.
Received by the leadership of the NUJ led by the state chairman, Festus Alenkhe, the CP solicited the cooperation of Edo people with the Police Force to check cases of violent crimes like kidnapping, farmers/herders’ clashes, cultism and others by always making information available to the police.
According to her, “The essence of our coming to Edo State is to ensure that we make the state a safe environment. We want to ensure that every one of us who comes from Edo State or are visitors in the state, when they come in, they will be happy.
“We want to build an environment that will be friendly, an environment where businesses can thrive, where people can live peacefully, where tourism that the state is known for can thrive; where your businesses can work; where those in the Diaspora can come home and be sure that they can invest.
“We want to build an environment where everybody will be safe. That is why we say, ‘wherever you are, if you see something, you say something’. That means, you give the police information, because, with information, the police will be able to work.”
Underscoring the need for everyone to know his or her neighbours to help check criminal activities like armed robbery and cultism, Otimenyin said, “We want you to know that you should know your neighbours; it is very important. Now that we have a law on kidnapping and cultism that has been domesticated, it simply shows that if you give your house to such people, your house will be brought down.
“So, know who you are around; know who your friend is, know who you relate with, know your neighbours, know everything around you; be your brother’s keeper, especially those around you.
“Tell us something and we will do something. When you see anything, we want to do a collective work; policing is about everybody. It is you and me, get involved in it. This is another phase of policing where we are all partners. We are all together, we have things at stake.
“What you sow is what you will reap, if you watch a criminal operate and you didn’t talk about it, how are you sure you will not be the next victim? That is why we are saying, when you see something, say something.”
On the issues of rape and defilement, a peeved Otimenyin said, “If the person is not just being animalistic, what will attract an adult to a child? You have a child at home, you have a baby at home, what are you seeing, and what will somebody be seeing in a child if he is not having psychiatric issues?
“What amazes me is that some people come as a body, and they will be protecting not the victims, but the violators, and one begins to imagine whether they were once violators themselves. Is that why they are protecting their kind? Because a sane human being will not protect a violator but rather the victim.
“Will such persons be happy if their child is violated in that manner? Or are they saying that they can allow their own daughters to be defiled, or you allow your own wife to be raped? We will continue to work on this because I have sympathy for victims.”
Responding, Alenkhe, the NUJ Chairman, assured the CP of a mutual working relationship with the state police command.