Arebamen
By Moses Omorogieva
Lagos, May 18, 2018 (NAN) Friends and former colleagues of late Young Arebamen on Friday paid glowing tributes to the one time Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, describing him as an officer with high integrity.
Associates of Arebamen spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) during the Requiem Mass for the late CP at Church of the Assumption, Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos on Friday.
Mr Olayinka Balogun, a former commissioner of police in Edo, said the late police boss was a problem solver who was easily approachable, amongst other qualities.
“The best of Arebamen came out while he was CP Lagos.
“Before then, I have worked with him under Musiliu Smith as Force PPRO, while I was the PSO. He was an honest officer, so friendly but always firm in decision making,’’ he said.
Mr Israel Ajao, Chairman, Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps and a retired deputy inspector-general of police, said that Arebamen’s good work as CP in Lagos greatly helped his successor.
“Arebamen was my immediate predecessor. He was an amiable and gentle officer. He did his best as CP which helped me to work in the state. He will be sorely missed,” Ajao told NAN.
Also, Mr Musiliu Smith, former inspector-general of police from May 1999 to March 2002, said: “Arebamen would be cherished for his diligent and professional performance which promoted excellent relationship between the police and public.’’
In his sermon, Rev. Father Innocent Opoga, the Director of Catholic Lay Apostolic Centre in Lagos, said Arebamen was a hardworking police officer with integrity.
Opoga said he heard about the good works of Arebamen before he met him physically, stressing that he lived a life worthy of emulation.
He reminded the congregation that death is inevitable to all, urging everyone to live a good life worthy of emulation.
Similarly, General Manager, Raypower FM Radio, Yewande Iwoha, who was a crime reporter during Arebamen period, described him as a forthright and disciplined policeman.
“He was always on the lookout for his men.
“I got really impressed with his professionalism in the way he handled the conduct of election in Lagos as CP. He refused to compromise and ensured the neutrality of the police.
“He was also accessible to the media. He made our job easy with prompt response to enquiries and interviews,” she said.
Another crime reporter and producer of television programme, Crime Fighters, Aisha Agberebi, said Arebamen checked the menace of armed robberies and bank attacks in Lagos.
Arebamen died on his 72nd birthday on March 14, 2018 .
Enlisted into the police in 1969, Arebamen served as commissioner of police in Zamfara (2001-2002) and Lagos (2002-2004).
He was appointed Chief Executive of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA by the Bola Tinubu administration after his retirement from the police.
He was married with six children.(NAN)
MIO/ENN/WOJ
============
Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Wale Ojetimi