Edo State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Hon. Paul Ohonbamu has condemned the gory tale painted about Edo State by the member representing Esan West, Esan Central and Igueben Federal Constituency in the House of Representative, Hon. Marcus Onobun that the State government is overwhelmed by the frequent killings and rising insecurity in the state.
In as much as the Legislator is performing his rightful duties by drawing the attention of the Speaker of the House of Representative, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas to the security situation in Edo State, it is not true that the state governor is overwhelmed by the situation which is receiving urgent attention by the administration.
The security of lives and property of the people is one of the cardinal goals of the governor who swiftly moved to ameliorate the lapses created by the past administration of former governor Godwin Obaseki with the necessary provision of the working tools for the security agencies
While we welcome the need to intensify intelligence gathering and surveillance operations to identify and neutralize criminal flash points within the state, and deployment of additional security personnel, it is not in good taste to conclude that the state governor is over whelmed with the security challenges.
There is no where in the world that the citizens are not grappling with the issue of security and a responsible government is saddled with the responsibility to ensure that the people are safe and that is exactly what Governor Okpebholo has done immediately he assumed office and he has not in any way relented.
The government has given notice to all criminal elements within and from outside the state to leave the state as their days are numbered and there have been several arrests and investigations going on.
There is no doubt that the man hunt for the criminals will obviously take some time to be able to get rid of all the criminals from the state, therefore, there will be need to exercise some patience with the security agencies, as they do their jobs, but the good news is that there are positive results
As the onslaught by the security agencies against criminals spread across the state, no where will be comfortable for them and the state will not be a safe haven for kidnappings and violent attacks as stated by Hon Marcus Onobun while raising a motion of urgent public importance on the need to curb the rising cases of killings in the state during the plenary session of the House of Representative recently.
The State Governor who signed into law the 2025 amended laws prohibiting kidnapping and related activities has launched a crackdown on kidnapping by demolishing buildings used by kidnappers and their accomplices, in Uromi and Ekpoma thereby sending a strong message to perpetrators.
With this development and more, Landlords have been advised to properly profile their tenants before renting out properties because any house found to be used for kidnapping activities or any related criminal activities will be demolished to serve as a deterrent to others.
There are other moves embarked by the state government in collaboration with the security agencies to flush out all criminal elements to make the state habitable for all and there are records of successes in the fight against criminal activities.
There have also been aggressive raiding of hideouts and apprehending of suspects for interrogation in the state and as such the state government is not overwhelmed with the security situation.
Hon Paul Ohonbamu
Commissioner for Information and Communications
