…Thousands Of Youths Recruited
By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
The quest to wipe out crime in Rivers State through community policing appears to be yielding results as many young men are embracing it, as part of their contributions to the betterment of the state.
Already, community policing has been embraced in communities such as Rumuolumeni, Bakana, Bukuma, Degema, Oguru-Ama, Buguma, Port Harcourt and many other communities.
Speaking to TPCN in Port Harcourt today, one of the pioneer visioners of this new trend of community policing in Rivers State, Alalibo Gogo Abite, said he has been able to recruit over six hundred and three young men and women into his own group of community policing.
He said he covers more than seven communities in about four local government areas of the state, including Degema, Asari-Toru, Akuku-Toru and Port Harcourt and that more communities and LGAs would still be covered, with more youths indicating interest to join.
Gogo Abite, also known as Mandela, said he was the founder of Diobu Vigilante Group and had been doing voluntary community policing for more than five years without any payment or compensation from anybody.
He said what prompted him to render such selfless service was his uncompromising desire to rid the society of crime as well as his belief that whoever does good would be rewarded with good, adding that he had spent a lot to sustain the vision, especially in the areas of providing uniforms, berets, and other things to encourage his members.
According to him, since he started the community policing in Rivers State, many other states have borrowed the leaf, while some other communities in the state had also started theirs, a development he said was very healthy for the society as it would complement the effort of the police in the fight against criminals.
On their achievements in the various communities they cover, Gogo Abite, who hails from Bakana Town, said: “Our boys have succeeded in reducing crime in the areas we cover. For instance, those boys that used to smoke Indian hemp don’t do so again. We told them that we would not spare them if we catch them and because of that, they don’t do it in the town again. They now go to the waterside to smoke. They don’t harass people anymore like before and armed robbery and kidnapping have reduced.”
He said that many youths in the areas they cover are begging to join in community policing, especially in Degema, Abonemma, Asari-Toru and Port Harcourt but regretted that they were yet to receive any assistance from anybody.
Some of their challenges, according to him, include lack of mobility, adequate security equipment, financial support, office and necessary security gadgets.
On the specific communities they cover, Abite said: “We have established community police in Kula, Buguma, Abonnema, Oguru-Ama (Old Bakana), Bukuma, Bakana and Rumuwoji communities. We have been using community policing to sanitise the communities for five years now. But we need support because I have been spending my money to run this group. We need help from the government and corporate organizations. The boys need to be getting monthly stipends to take care of themselves. They do shifting and it is not an easy sacrifice to make. Other people would be sleeping in the night and they will be awake, parading to make sure that criminals don’t operate. We really need to be assisted, that’s why we are appealing for help.”
On whether they have made any effort to reach any of the local government chairmen for assistance, he said they were still in the process but added that the Degema LGA chairman had promised to invite them for discussion.
Asked if they had made any effort to join the Rivers Neighbourhood Watch, he said: “Yes. They told us about the recruitment and our boys applied. We are still waiting for further developments. They know about us. Rivers State government knows about us.”
