OYO POLICE DEBUNKS INVASION OF AKOBO COMMUNITY BY ARMED ROBBERS

The Command in the statement   signed by its Public Relations Officer SP Olugbenga Fadeyi, which was made available to journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital said the attention of the Commissioner had been drawn to the fake news report, hence, need to put the record straight.

“The attention of the Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Police Command, Shina T.Olukolu has been drawn to a sensational panic inducing story captioned “Robbers invaded Akobo Communities, kill security guard, scores injured” which was conspicuously published in some widely circulated and respected Nigerian Newspapers some few days ago, precisely on the 4th November, 2019’.

“Contrary to the sensational caption and the contents of the story, the narrative as published was in all honesty a deliberately twisted account of events, sensationally captioned and embellished to deliberately taint the image, dampen the efforts and spirit of the hard working officers and men of the Nigeria Police, Oyo State Command’.

“The facts was that there was a distress call at about 0320 hrs of 4th November, 2019 to the Divisional Police Headquarters, Akobo Area Ibadan that an unspecified number of  hoodlums had attacked a night guard at Ori-Owo shopping complex Akobo Oju-iri Ibadan’.

‘In a swift response, the Akobo Anti-Crime Patrol team raced to the scene where one Nwokede Promise ‘m’, a 26yrs old night guard employed to secure the shopping complex was injured with bullet wound’, the statement explained.

“He was rescued by the Police team and rushed to the University Teaching hospital (UCH) Ibadan for immediate medical attention. He was consequently admitted while the medical personnel on duty commenced immediate medical treatment and till date he is still responding to treatment. Therefore, no night guard or other resident in the area was killed by the hoodlums’, the commissioner explained.

The statement reads further that, “to buttress the facts disclosed above and dispel the unverified contents of the hasty publication, the Police Public Relations officer (PPRO), Oyo State Police Command, SP. Fadeyi Olugbenga in company of some pressmen also visited the University College Hospital (UCH) and Akobo Area for verification and on the spot assessment’.

“The purportedly killed night guard, Nwokede Promise ‘m’ was met at UCH in a stable condition while some residents of Akobo area were also interviewed and dispel the hasty publication. But stated that in fact no night guard, resident or any person was killed in the area, except for two  persons who sustained slight machete injury at a vulcanizer bus stop Oju-irin Akobo and were treated and discharged immediately’.

The Commissioner however re-assured the people that the Command, will not under whatever circumstances relent in its efforts to continue to carry out her constitutional responsibilities of the protection of lives and property, while appealing to journalists that they should at all times be circumspect and refrain from filling any sensational publication of any unfounded, unverified stories and rumours being circulated as the gospel truth.

Penpushing also reports that, Olukolu noted that such an advert or deliberate publications will not only be unethical which is directly opposed to their professional calling of giving opportunities to all sides to a story before publication, and also capable of creating undue panic and sense of insecurity.

“It will also serve to demoralize and dampened the morale, spirit, dedication and confidence of the hard working Police officers who are always out there 24/7 come rain or shine to ensure that the society is safe and secured. The ultimate looser will be the entire society which you and I are part of’, he emphasised.

The police boss, called on the residents of the  State to continue to go about their lawful businesses without any fear of molestation or threat from any quarters, as adequate security measures have been emplaced to respond promptly to any security threats from any individuals or groups who may be bent on disturbing the relative peace and tranquility being enjoyed by the law abiding citizens of the State