The immediate past Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, now the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Zone 2, Lagos, AIG Sylvester Abiodun Alabi, in this interview with ALBERT UBA, recounts his experiences while policing Nigeria’s commercial capital, saying his greatest challenge in the state was fake news
You held the mantle of leadership of the Lagos State Police Command for one year. Tell us about your experiences?
My experiences were very nice, enriching and buoyantly fulfilling. I am glad I was able to justify my posting at Lagos Command by doing what I know how to do best; by ensuring the safety of lives and property in Lagos, by making the environment very conducive for businesses to thrive and people going about their lawful businesses without any apprehension or fear.
How did the Command collaborate with sister agencies in the fight against crime and criminality in the state under your watch?
It was very marvelous and highly encouraging. We had a harmonious, cordial and very robust relationship. When I came on board, one of my cardinal points was to foster inter agency collaboration and work in synergy with other security agencies. I did that for one year and it actually assisted us in fighting crime and criminality to the barest minimum in the state.
I want to say here that the intelligence unit like the Department of State Services (DSS) availed us a lot of intelligence and information, which we worked with. I would not fail to mention the importance of the Neighbourhood Corps, a Lagos State agency. These are the people that are living in various communities at the grassroots level. The information and intelligence they availed us helped tremendously to nip some crimes in the bud. Whenever we called on any of the sister agencies to support us, they never hesitated to do so, which actually assisted us further to ensure that Lagos State is safe and secure for all.
Tell us your most challenging experience in your efforts to secure the state?
Fake news! That was the most challenging experience. Yes, because you know that a lot of people peddle rumours, unfounded rumours that cause a lot of apprehension and panic. You will agree with me that when there is apprehension and panic, the security situation will be challenged.
For example, there was information passed online that the Fulani had stockpiled arms at a housing estate along Badagry Road, which was never true. A lot of people called me; even my IGP called and directed me to find out whether what he heard on the news was the true, whereas flatly it was false. There was nothing like that.
Another one was the issue of INEC not registering people around Alaba area, which was not true. This could have caused a lot of problems especially from the Igbos who may have thought that they wanted to disenfranchise them. But it was not true.
That was why I organised a seminar on the danger of fake news. I invited journalists and we talked on the danger inherent in the dissemination of fake news, which is not good for our security. So we had a fruitful deliberation. I think to a large extent, we are not experiencing fake news anymore like we used to. But that was the challenge we had; otherwise what we call security challenges are things that are surmountable that are not really affecting us in any way.
What would you say is your legacy for the officers and men of the Command?
Professionalism! I was able to indoctrinate the people to be professional to the letter. And to be sincere, it shows in my officers and men today. That is the reason we had drastic reduction in civilian-police face off. I used to read about it before I came here, but there is now what we call policing with human face, policing with human milk of kindness.
What would you like to be remembered for as CP Lagos?
I would want to be remembered as somebody who came to Lagos to maintain and improve on the security situation of the state because all of us are aware of how Lagos was before I came in. My predecessor did his best during his own time. I was able to maintain what I met on ground and improve on it. So, I think that is
what I want to be remembered for; to say that yes, I came, maintained what I met on ground, improved on it and left behind a security situation that has made the people to have confidence to move about without any fear of apprehension in their minds in Lagos.
If you had the opportunity to recommend somebody as CP Lagos, what caliber of person would you recommend?
Of course, I would recommend another competent officer who should be able to raise the bar beyond what I left behind.
What message do you have for Lagosians?
I want to sincerely thank the people of Lagos State, particularly Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his untiring support for the police to ensure that we succeed in our onerous task of ensuring the security of lives and properties in the state. And to the good people of Lagos State, I want to thank them for availing us the needed information that helped us in policing the state to the maximum. I want to thank them for believing in us because we have been able to bridge the gap between members of the public and the police through the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), meetings with critical stakeholders, setting up of various committees by building confidence between them and the police. I really want to thank the people of Lagos because I had their tremendous support while I served. Through their SMS and WhatsApp messages, some people that I don’t even know, out of patriotism, availed us a lot of information that really helped us in securing Lagos State.
