THE governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, has promised that the families of the five policemen killed and others injured during the EndSARS protests in the state would be compensated from the N500 million set up by the state government.
Governor Makinde, who said this on Monday, November 2, 2020, during a visit to the Oyo State Police Command headquarters in Ibadan, said the fund was set up after the crises that swept across states in Nigeria.
The governor also assured the state Commissioner of Police that the state government would grant the request of the state command to reconstruct burnt and vandalised police stations, as well as patrol vehicles.
He sympathised with the command over the death of five policemen and 12 others who were injured.
Going down memory lane on his relationship with some police officers, even before he became a governor, Makinde said not all policemen were bad, just as he charged officers and men of the command to look beyond the activities of thugs who hijacked the protest.
He said he supported the protests, as part of the demands was for better welfare package for police personnel.
He lamented the hijack of the protests by hoodlums who started attacking police personnel and burning their stations.
“I am here to tell you that you are not alone. You must put everything that happened behind you and look forward.
“I am here with you to make the burden you are carrying lighter,” Governor Makinde said.
Earlier, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) Adeleye Oyebade and the state’s Commissioner of Police, Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, appreciated the governor for choosing the first working week in the month of November to visit the police command.
On the arrival of the governor, he was ushered into the office of the Commissioner of Police, where he was handed a document containing a list of requests by the command to the state government.
The governor also decorated 16 police officers of the command who were promoted from Superintendents of Police (SP) to Chief Superintendents of Police (CSP.)
Those decorated with CSP ranks included Lateef Tunde Akanbi, Adeniyi Kabiru Lawal, Olusegun Ojo Famuyiwa, Bello Abdulrauf, Aderemi Maku, Ismaila Ayanwale, Julius Bolarinwa Odusina, Dauda Akanji Bakare.
Others were Adigun Salami, Samuel Adeniyi Akande, Taoreed Lawal, Mathew Olusola, Isiaka Lawal, Justine Oke, Olusola Majekodunmi and Elijah Adekanye.
Those present during the governor’s visit included the Garrison Commander of the Nigerian Army, 2 Division, Brigadier General T.A. Ogunsugba; Security Adviser to the governor, CP Fatai Owoseni (retd); Executive Assistant to the governor on Security Matters, CP Sunday Odukoya (retd); Special Adviser on Politics and Strategy, Mr Babs Oduyoye and the Chairman, Advisory Council, Senator Hosea Agboola.
