LATE ACP OMOLODUN'S POLICE ORDERLIES TO REMAIN IN CUSTODY –AJAO

The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Israel Ajao, has said that policemen who escorted the late Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Ijebu Ode Area Command, Mr. Oladokun Omolodun, to Ijebu Ife, where he was killed would remain in custody for a long time.

DIG Ajao, who was in Lagos for on-the-spot assessment of the readiness of policemen in the Lagos State Command for crime prevention and particularly the 2011 elections, said the detained policemen would serve as lesson to others that the new police management was determined to instil the spirit of fearlessness and courage into the force.

Forty-five-year-old Omolodun was killed in a mayhem that engulfed Ijebu Ife town in Ogun State, where the youths violently protested the death of one of them, Toba Bayesan, in the hands of the town's vigilante group. The ACP was killed while trying to pacify the restive youths.

It was said that the late area commander was beating a retreat when he saw that the situation was more than he could handle; however, the four policemen that brought him in a Hilux Pick-up van failed to protect their boss.

Ajao told Saturday Punch that the four policemen were arrested for abandoning their charge and running for safety when they should have protected him.

'Policemen should be known for courage and not run away from doing their duty. Those policemen had no business running away and leaving the ACP behind to his fate. He was their charge and they abandoned him. Well they will remain in custody for a long time,' he said.

Ajao, who is touring all the Divisions and Area Commands in the State, said apart from raising the courage and strength of policemen, the Inspector General of Police, had directed that policemen that wanted to go for further education must henceforth obtain official permission, or they would not be able to use their certificates in the force.