OLALEKAN OLABULO writes on the level of alertness of Nigeria?s most populous state and the possible target for bandits reportedly moving down South.

The heightened tension created by the reported plans by terrorists to invade the South West of Nigeria has put security operatives and residents in different parts of Lagos State on the red alert. Communities, findings showed, are devising different strategies, according to their peculiar needs and environments, to curb any likely infiltration of their areas by suspected bandits.

It was also discovered that residents are not taking anything for granted when it comes to security around their homes, especially when it has to do with motorcyclists who are suspected to be foreigners as well as unknown faces in their neighbourhoods.

In recent past, Lagos State narrowly escaped activities of suspected terrorists with the arrest of Boko Haram elements and recovery of suspected Explosive Ordinance Device (EOD) in some parts of the state and border communities with Ogun State.

In one of such arrests, the Joint Civilian Task Force arrested six suspected Boko Haram members who escaped from Baga, Bama and Konduga in Borno State around Ijora Badia area of Lagos State, while the military also claimed to have acted on intelligence report to arrest some Boko Haram members in the state.

Extra policing?

Events of the past few days have also pointed at the police in Lagos not taking anything for granted in the handling of the reported threat as well as ensuring the force is vigilant enough not to be caught off-guard by the criminal elements who may want to infiltrate the state. A few days ago, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Adegoke Fayoade, convened a security meeting. In attendance were commissioners of police, Lagos and Ogun States, as well as all strategic and tactical commanders.

A reliable source at the meeting told Saturday Tribune that ?the AIG stressed the need for physical and covert policing to rid the zone of criminal elements while emphasising collaboration with sister agencies and partnership with members of the public. He also charged them to identify black spots and beef up security in their respective areas of jurisdiction.?

A few days after the AIG summoned the police leaders to his office, the Commissioner of Police in charge of Lagos, Olanrewaju Ishola, also summoned a security meeting which included all the Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) tactical commanders and unit heads on how to be proactive in policing the state.

Their fates in their hands

Residents of Lagos State are also not leaving their personal and collective security in the face of the threat completely to security agencies and official assurances, considering that top government functionaries in the geo-political zone who have access to security and intelligence reports have been part of the alarm that the criminal elements are targettting states in the South West.

A member of the security committee in one of the communities in Obawole, Christopher Chukwuka, told Saturday Tribune that ?A lot of things have changed as regards security in our area. No right-thinking person will hear such thing and go to sleep. We are not leaving any stone unturned to fortify security around our estate.?

He added, ?Since the alarm started ringing that there are plans by bandits and terrorists to attack the South West, we have started erecting gates to limit access into our communities.

?There used to be scores of commercial motorcyclists, mostly foreigners, parking on the streets of our estate but that has stopped now. We have chased them away. The communities had a meeting and it was agreed that we should stop them from parking indiscriminately and sleeping along our roads. We also served out quit notices to kiosk owners who harbour them in our communities.

?Landlords and residents who want to bring in people, especially those from foreign countries, are mandated to bring them for proper profiling and they must be ready to stand as guarantors for them.

?We don?t limit it to our area. We discovered that they were hibernating at a nearby makeshift market, the NLC Market. We reported to the government, they were dislodged and the place was pulled down.?

Lightning won?t strike us twice ?Badia community

The chairman of Badia East Community Development Association (CDA), Raymond Teodunjaye, in a chat with Saturday Tribune, said, ?Our side is one of the communities In Ijora where we have a large concentration of households from the Northern part of the country. We have been living together cordially and we have ensured that there is a community meeting where we interface and also discuss security issues on a monthly basis.

?And don?t forget that Ijora, about four years ago, was the place where some bandits from the North gathered with a plan to blow up some oil facilities in the Apapa area before they were exposed and captured.

?The building where they hibernated then, where the plan was conceptualized, I can tell you, as I?m speaking with you, the building has been pulled down. The building was owned by a state government, but for neglecting the property and allowing the property to be used by the bandits for their planned action, the government of Lagos State has pulled down the building and the place?.

The community leader further said ?It?s now a fallow land. There?s nothing there. So we have put everybody on red alert based on the security reports that some bandits from the North are to infiltrate Lagos.

?We have asked everybody to be on alert. We have also asked everybody around to be security-conscious. And this we have been doing from time to time.

?We are fully prepared to ensure that no bandit is allowed within our community, no infiltration of any unknown persons. Once we see an unknown person who does not reside within the community, we challenge him and we bring it to the notice of the security operatives we have around.

We have the members of the Oodua People?s Congress,(OPC ), who serve as security watch within the community both day and night.

?And we have told every member of the community, either young or old, when you notice any new person, the face of any new person or a strange person in the community, quickly call an elder who will bring the information to the notice of the OPC members who will quickly call the person to order and profile him to know his mission within the community.

?I can assure you we are security-conscious in our community and we have put everybody on red alert to be watchful about newcomers within the community?.

Jakande Estate leverages ICT, Festac gate manned

Mrs Ilo Jerry, a resident of Jakande Estate, provided an insight into the preparedness of the popular community, noting, ?We are much aware of the reported plan by some terrorists to invade South West and we know that if they are coming at all, Lagos will be their main target.

?We have fortified the security arrangement around our estate. Our estate is divided into different zones Each of the zones has a WhatsApp group where issues on security and other things are discussed.

?That is where members of each zone are alerted of any strange movement within the estate. Each of the zones is manned by local security and there are gates at exit points to Festac, Trade Fair and other places that may want to be used to gain entrance into our estate.?

We are prepared ?Information Commissioner, Omotoso

The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, told Saturday Tribune, when contacted, that there is no cause for alarm.

He said, ?If what has brought this about is what the Governor of Oyo State, His Excellency, Engineer Seyi Makinde, said, I don?t think he has been accurately quoted. He never said the target is Lagos, no he never said so. I think what we all heard was that Boko Haram and ISWAP had infiltrated the South West. So, I would not want to speak for the South West, but I would want to speak for Lagos because there is very strong security machinery which is alive 24/7. It is very strong. We have very strong relationship with the military and other security agencies.

?There is what we call Lagos State Security Council that meets periodically; meets whenever the governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, wants it to meet. The council comprises the military, the Army, Navy, Air Force, the police, the Neighborhood Watch, the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, the Executive Secretary reporting, the governor, the deputy governor, Dr Kadir Obafemi Hamzat, the SSG and, to the best of my knowledge, we haven?t had any alarm from this eminent council about what you have said (likely bandit invasion).

?But like I have said, Lagos is reputed to be the safest city not just in Nigeria but the safest of any one in the world of its size where you have about 30 million people and yet we are not reporting murder every day, we are not reporting arson every day, we are not reporting any violent crime every day. So, if there is competition, Lagos is going to win it.

?So, we are not relenting on our efforts. That is why a few weeks ago, I think December last year, Mr Governor gave out in one day, 260 vehicles to security agencies, not just the police, not just the RRS. That is why in Lagos, you see that security agencies are more mobile, more energized because of all the equipment that the state government has been able to procure for them; bulletproof vests, helmets, and so many other things.

?The government has given them all these just about a month ago. So, it is not because of an alarm raised somewhere or anywhere that Lagos would begin to panic, no. This is because we have a vibrant, solid and effective security machinery that is working, 24/7.

Lagos, as you know, has about 2,000 Neighbourhood Watch people who are there to give intelligence to security agencies and they are in every nook and cranny of the state. So, I feel that Lagos is ever-ready; it is like we have imbibed the Boys Scout motto ?Be Prepared?.

?Every Lagosian should feel free to go about his or her business without any fear of any attack or whatsoever. The state government will continue to do its best to protect Lagosians and visitors because we appreciate what the Federal Government is doing in terms of the group you have mentioned.

?The Federal Government, through the military, has been dealing with them and if the logic is because they had been pushed out of the places where they were in the North and they were moving South-West, it is logical to so take. But in Lagos, we do not try to see any problem coming before we move.

?So, 24/7, Lagos is prepared to ensure that citizens are safe, that visitors are safe, to ensure that businesses are protected, to ensure that Lagosians do not have any reason to fear at all, and that?s the situation.

?In December, we had what we called Detty December, we had yuletide, we had thousands of people if not millions of people moving into Lagos and yet not a single incident was reported of any violent crime in any part of Lagos. It shows and tells a lot about the preparations of Lagos. We had the boat regatta, the first of its kind in so long a time and there was no incident.

?We had street parties all over the place, we had very big shows, we had the Count-Down show during which many musicians who were abroad came home to play and you know people in Diaspora returned to Lagos to have Christmas parties so much so that Lagos is now being seen as the best place to celebrate yuletide any time.

?If you look at that, everybody is hailing the security architecture of Lagos. Everybody is hailing the security situation in Lagos. So, Lagosians are not in any panic at all, everybody is at rest and the government is assuring everybody that they should be at rest.?

What residents must do ?Security expert

A top security expert, Folorunsho Atta, while speaking on the alarm, urged ?everybody to be on red alert? and called for heightened logistic support for security agencies to be able to do their jobs effectively.

?Let me start by urging residents of the state to be on red alert; report suspicious movement and persons to security agents since security is everybody?s business,? he said.

Analysing the impacts of a possible attack, he explained that ?invasion of the South Western axis of Nigeria by terrorists could be dangerous and deadly. Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, is in South West. With large presence of foreigners in Lagos and Ibadan, any terrorist attack in the South West will have adverse effect on foreigners in Nigeria.

?This will dent the image of our country. Security agents must not only be placed on red alert, but they must be guided with logistic support to enable them to crush any move by terrorists swiftly.

?With the rumour, the police in Lagos and other South West states must be put on 24-hour surveillance to be ready to rise to the occasion should anything untoward happen,? he stated. (Saturday Tribune)

Update news