Obaseki disclosed this after presiding over the February Security Council Meeting at the Executive Council (EXCO) Chambers in Government House, Benin City.
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Tuesday, said over 120 security personnel have been deployed to forests in the state, particularly the Ovia Forest to dislodge criminals from the area.
Obaseki disclosed this after presiding over the February Security Council Meeting at the Executive Council (EXCO) Chambers in Government House, Benin City.
He said the Council was working to deploy more security personnel to other forests across the state, to prevent criminals from migrating to places currently enjoying peace.
According to the governor, the state had an impressive drop of incidence from about 170 in January to 46 in February.
He noted that the state security council is working proactively to ensure the security of lives and property in communities where farmers/herders clashes are prevalent.
He said, "We have deployed over 120 security personnel to dislodge criminals from the Ovia axis of our forest. We got information that criminals are trying to come back, but we have redeployed more security personnel. We are working on how to completely flush them out of Edo State.”
Obaseki noted that the Security Council also resolved to immediately begin the arrest and prosecution of owners of unregistered vehicles, as well as vehicles with covered number plates in the state.
According to the state sector commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Henry Benamaisia, the agency has discovered that criminals move around the state with unregistered plate numbers.
He said to check the security threat, “the state government has set up a task force to arrest offenders starting from today”.
He noted that the Nigerian Government through the FRSC has approved 5,000 plate numbers for the state, noting, "All plate numbers must not be covered but opened as security agencies from this week will embark on a massive operation to arrest offenders.”
Speaking on the successes recorded in ridding the state of kidnappers, the state police commissioner, CP Philip Ogbadu, revealed that between January and February, the command arrested several suspects including three persons on the police wanted list since June 2021.
He said three AK-47 rifles were recovered from the suspected kidnappers.
On his part, the Edo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Iyamu SAN, explained that after a meeting between the Governor and the EFCC in Edo state, the state is developing a coordinated approach to stamp out cybercrime from the state.