LAGOS JUNE 1ST (URHOBOTODAY)-The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Nigeria Police Maritime Command, AIG Mohammed Katsina and the Lagos State Police command boss, Fatai Owoseni yesterday dismissed attacks threat on Lagos by Niger Delta militant group popularly called ‘Niger Delta Avengers’.
The two chiefs of police yesterday at different occasion boasted that ‘Lagos is well fortified’.
According to Katsina who spoke at the Police Marine Unit, Ikoyi, “We have gallant police officers. Through our synergy with the Nigerian navy, our inland waterways have become safer than before. The so called avengers have not been able to infiltrate Lagos due to the testimony of the fact that we have dominated our environment.”
He lauded the navy for their improved relationship with the police.
His words: “Let me give glowing tributes to the navy. For the first time, they have accepted to train 49 of our officers on maritime policing and inland waterways policing. They train them in water-borne combats operation.”
There were palpable fears at the Ikorodu area of Lagos State on Tuesday following reports that police in Lagos State have allegedly received intelligence reports that the Niger Delta Avengers were planning to storm Lagos to blow up pipelines at Ikorodu, the Atlas Cove and other national assets within the inland waters. ?
It was gathered that heavily armed policemen and other security operatives including the military and the personnel of the Department of State Security Service have been deployed to Ikorodu to avert the threat. ?
A source told newsmen that the Assistant Inspector General of police in charge of Zone 2 police Command, Onikan, AIG Balla Hassan would be visiting Ikorodu in connection with the alleged threat. ?
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr. Fatai Owoseni dismissed the report as “mere rumour”?
Owoseni who spoke during a press briefing at the state police Command yesterday said: “Just as you heard it as a rumour so I also heard it as a rumour. It is a mere rumour and there is no truth in the rumour. It is just like the rumour we received that the third mainland bridge would be bombed on May 29th. Here we are, the third mainland bridge is still standing. Report we got about Ikorodu is cases of cultists and the police have arrested about 200 suspects. There is no threat of bombing of police station at Ikorodu. However, plain clothed policemen, officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) are on ground and on top of the situation. People should be careful where they go”?
The report is coming barely two days after policemen clashed with suspected pipeline vandals at the Elebute community at Ibafo community in Obafemi Owode Local government Area of Ogun State where two persons were feared killed in the clash that saw residents deserting their homes.