NO HIDING PLACE FOR CRIMINNALS

Delta is committed to ridding the state of all forms of criminality, writes JUDE AGHOGHOPHIA

Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, has renewed his administration’s determination to confront crime and criminality in the state, declaring that there will be no hiding place for criminals or anyone who attempts to arm individuals for political violence.

The governor made the declaration on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, when he received the newly deployed Commissioner of Police in Delta State, Samuel Erale, who paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Asaba. Oborevwori stressed that security remains a central pillar of his MORE Agenda because no meaningful development can take place where the lives and property of citizens are under threat.

But the significance of the governor’s latest declaration lies not merely in the firmness of his words. It is more properly in the security architecture and interventions his administration has been putting in place since assuming office in May 2023.

Oborevwori’s position is clear: crime should not be given political, social or personal protection. According to reports of his meeting with the new police commissioner, the governor said his administration would maintain a firm approach to fighting criminality regardless of the status or political affiliation of offenders. Not even if the person is his brother or friend.

That position is particularly significant at a time when political activities are already intensifying ahead of the 2027 elections.

One of the clearest indications that the administration’s position on security goes beyond rhetoric is the strengthening and restructuring of joint security operations in the state.

In 2024, the governor donated 31 operational vehicles to the police and other security agencies to strengthen their field operations. The initiative accompanied the rebranding of the former Operation Delta Hawk as Operation Delta Sweep, with the stated objective of improving joint security operations and intelligence sharing.

Operation Delta Sweep subsequently became a multi-agency arrangement involving the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Department of State Services and Civil Defence Corps. The administration has said that the cooperation among the agencies has produced operational results, including the recovery of arms and ammunition from criminal elements.

This is important because the security challenges confronting Delta are not confined to one category of crime. Kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery, communal conflicts, oil-related criminality and political violence require different capabilities and, in many cases, coordinated responses.

Perhaps the most institutional of the administration’s security interventions has been the revival and formal launch of the Delta State Security Trust Fund.

The fund was originally established by law in 2013, but the Oborevwori administration formally launched it in October 2025 as a platform for mobilising private-sector resources to complement government investment in security. Its proposed areas of intervention include surveillance equipment, operational vehicles, communications equipment and training and retraining of security personnel and community vigilante groups.

The financial commitment attached to the initiative is also noteworthy. The state government said 0.5 per cent of monthly Internally Generated Revenue is allocated to the Security Trust Fund. At the launch, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, donated ₦10 billion, while businessman Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede announced a personal donation of ₦100 million.

The logic behind the fund is straightforward: security is too important to be left entirely to annual government appropriations when the private sector, communities and other stakeholders can contribute resources and expertise.

The mandate of the Trust Fund includes funding and equipping security agencies, training personnel and fostering public-private cooperation for crime prevention, containment and eradication.

Oborevwori has also increasingly framed security as a collective responsibility rather than an issue that belongs exclusively to government and conventional security agencies.

At the Delta State Security Summit 2026, held in June, he brought together security chiefs, local government chairmen, traditional rulers, community leaders, civil society organisations, youth and women’s groups and members of the business community.

The summit focused on terrorism, kidnapping and other forms of criminality and emphasised intelligence sharing and cooperation among stakeholders. That approach is particularly relevant in a state as geographically diverse as Delta. Local communities often possess information about unusual movements, criminal networks and emerging threats long before such information becomes available to conventional security institutions.

Consequently, empowering communities and improving communication between them and security agencies can become an important component of crime prevention.

There is another dimension to the Governor Oborevwori administration’s security strategy that deserves attention. The governor has repeatedly linked security with economic opportunity, youth empowerment, agriculture, infrastructure and employment. At the 2025 Security Trust Fund launch, he argued that addressing poverty, unemployment and youth restiveness was part of tackling the underlying causes of insecurity. That is quite significant because policing alone cannot permanently eliminate criminality if social conditions continue to provide fertile ground for recruitment into criminal networks.

Road construction and improved connectivity can also have security implications. Better roads make it easier for security personnel to reach vulnerable communities and respond to emergencies. At the 2025 security fund launch, retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police Marvel Akpoyibo specifically identified Delta’s improving road network as important to safety and connectivity.

With the 2027 general election fast approaching, Oborevwori’s latest declaration comes against the background of recent political tensions in the state. In September, the Delta State Government directed security agencies to investigate a confrontation involving suspected supporters of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) during a political mobilisation march in Effurun. The government said political rivalry must not degenerate into violence, intimidation or thuggery and directed that anyone found culpable should face the full weight of the law. That response gives practical context to Oborevwori’s latest warning against those who may seek to arm individuals for political violence.

His message, as reported after his meeting with the new police commissioner, is that political affiliation will not provide immunity from prosecution.

For a state entering another election cycle, that principle will be tested repeatedly. Political competition is inevitable. What matters is whether political competition can remain within the boundaries of law and democratic engagement.

Ultimately, Oborevwori’s vow to rid Delta of criminality should be judged not only by the strength of his declarations but by the effectiveness of the institutions and security operations deployed to achieve that objective.

What is not in doubt is the fact that the administration has already taken several identifiable steps: supplying operational vehicles to security agencies, strengthening multi-agency operations through Operation Delta Sweep, establishing a stronger public-private financing mechanism through the Security Trust Fund, convening a state-wide security summit and promoting community participation in security.

These measures do not mean that Delta has become crime-free. No responsible assessment should make such a claim. Security threats are dynamic, and the effectiveness of any security policy must ultimately be measured by outcomes on the ground. But the direction of the administration is not only clear, it is unmistakable – no hiding place for criminals in Delta as criminality would not be tolerated.

What Governor Oborevwori is attempting to do is build a security system in which government resources, private-sector support, intelligence, technology, conventional security agencies and community participation reinforce one another.

His latest warning therefore represents more than another political declaration. It is a restatement of a policy position that has increasingly defined his administration: there should be no sanctuary for criminals, no political protection for perpetrators and no acceptance of violence as an instrument of political competition.

The challenge now is to turn that determination into sustained results — because the ultimate measure of security is not the loudness of the warning, but the safety that ordinary citizens experience in their homes, communities, businesses and on the roads.

Aghoghophia, a security and safety professional, writes from Warri, Delta State