The Special Task Force Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) has been applauded by residents of Lamingo area in Jos over their intense security response and intervention which saw the grounding of activities of Kidnapers and other criminal syndicates operating around the area.
Lamingo area had come under heavy attack by kidnappers and criminal for months. Residents were reported to have been experiencing almost daily incidents of Kidnapping in the area. Medical Doctors working in JUTH in the area had cried out to the Commander Operation Safe Haven, Major General Okonkwo who swiftly established the Forward Operations Base (FOB) in the area. Normalcy has since return to the area as residents now go about their daily activities without the level of fear that once beclouded the area over rampant kidnappings.
Following the successes recorded in Lamingo, security agencies have turned their attention to Du and Dong areas where there is public outcry over the increased rate of Kidnapping in the area. Some residents who spoke to Nigeria Star News on the basis of anonymity expressed concern over the recent concentration of the activities of kidnappers and other criminal elements in the area. They decried the inability of the Police and other security agencies to protect them and to respond swiftly whenever there is a distress call.
A resident of Dong who also pleaded anonymity for fear of being targeted narrated his ordeal when he attempted to call the Police when kidnappers entered his house.
He said “I called the police at rantia to help me when kidnappers came to my house but they said they didn’t have rule to move. When I called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), I was told that they have been disbanded”. “When i called the Police special unit, the officer who responded to me said their vehicles are grounded”. “It was soldiers of the Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) stationed around Wildlife Park that saved me and my family”. ” That has been the account of those who got lucky, Solders of the OPSH have been the ones coming to our rescue”.
When asked about the current situation, he expressed fear that if something is not immediately done, the future is bleak for many residents. He pleaded with the Commander Operation Safe Haven to intervene and if possible replicate the FOB established in Lamingo in Dong to help save them from kidnappers.
Gov Simon Lalong has been viewed by many as a Governor who is serious about peace, however recent events have raised questions as to whether not he still has the political will to ensure the safety of lives and property of residents in Jos. One of the ways residents have suggested is for the Governor to help procure patrol vehicles for the Police, DSS and importantly the OPSH which has shown results with the hundreds of arrests made during raids within Jos Metropolist.
Several suspected kidnappers, robbers and cultists have been arrested and paraded by men of the OPSH within weeks bringing relative peace to Jos. The question now remains with other security agencies like the Police, NSCDC and the DSS. There is need for HE Gov Simon Bako Lalong to have interactions with service chiefs on the Plateau to know how to intervene swiftly, especially as the festive period gets closer. There is need to assist them in ways as are being done in States like Borno and Benue States. Residents are afraid of uncertainties in coming days considering prevailing economic hardship across the country.
Nigeria Star News 