By Seyi Bakare
From intelligence-led policing and inter-state collaboration to sustained investment in security infrastructure, Operation Kosaye is emerging as more than a police operation. It is becoming the cornerstone of Governor Dapo Abiodun’s evolving security doctrine and a potential template for tackling cross-border crime in Nigeria.
For years, the forests straddling the Lagos-Ogun border were synonymous with danger. Motorists dreaded the Sagamu-Ijebu Ode corridor after dusk. Farmers ventured into the bush with trepidation, while residents of boundary communities lived with the constant fear that kidnappers, armed robbers and other violent criminals could strike at will before disappearing into the dense forests separating the two states.
Today, that fear is gradually giving way to cautious confidence.
The change is being driven by Operation Kosaye—a coordinated security offensive that has, within weeks of its launch, altered the security narrative across one of Nigeria’s busiest economic corridors.
“Kosaye,” a Yoruba expression meaning there is no hiding place, is more than the name of a security operation. It encapsulates a new doctrine of intelligence-led policing designed to deny criminals the sanctuaries they have long exploited along the Lagos-Ogun axis.
Launched at the Police Training School, Iperu-Remo, the operation immediately sent a clear signal that state boundaries would no longer provide escape routes for criminal syndicates.
A Joint Offensive Delivering Results
Operation Kosaye was conceived by the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, and rolled out through the coordinated efforts of the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Bode Ojajuni, and his Lagos State counterpart, Fatai Tijani. Its operational focus spans the forests, border settlements and ungoverned spaces stretching from Kara and the Long Bridge through Sagamu, Ogere and Ijebu Ode to the Ikorodu and Epe boundary communities.
The results have been both swift and significant.
Security operatives combing the forests around Iperu and other flashpoints along the J3/J4 corridor rescued kidnapped victims who had been held captive along the Ijebu Ode axis, neutralised suspected kidnappers during fierce encounters, arrested scores of criminal suspects and recovered sophisticated weapons, including AK-47 rifles, pump-action guns, locally fabricated firearms, ammunition and communication equipment.
Equally significant was the destruction of criminal camps and illegal settlements hidden deep inside the forests—hideouts that had, for years, enabled kidnapping syndicates to operate with alarming impunity.
Perhaps more importantly, police authorities have made it clear that Operation Kosaye is not a one-off show of force. Supported by aerial surveillance, intelligence gathering and sustained inter-state collaboration, it is designed as a continuous operation intended to permanently deny criminal gangs access to the forests they once regarded as safe havens.
Security Through Collaboration
For Governor Dapo Abiodun, the significance of Operation Kosaye extends beyond arrests and recovered weapons.
It validates a philosophy his administration has consistently advanced since 2019—that contemporary security challenges require collaboration rather than competition among states.
For too long, criminals exploited jurisdictional boundaries, committing crimes in one state and escaping into another before security agencies could effectively coordinate their response. Operation Kosaye dismantles that advantage by creating seamless operational cooperation between Lagos and Ogun States.
Commending the initiative through his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, Governor Abiodun described the operation as bold, proactive and intelligence-driven, noting that it had significantly boosted public confidence in the Nigeria Police Force while making the Lagos-Ogun corridor increasingly inhospitable to kidnappers, bandits and other criminal elements.
He urged other states across the federation to embrace similar collaborative security frameworks, arguing that organised crime can only be defeated when law enforcement agencies transcend administrative boundaries and work as one coordinated force.
The governor also praised Commissioners Ojajuni and Tijani, alongside the officers and men participating in the operation, for their professionalism, courage and commitment to duty. He reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to supporting security agencies with logistics, operational vehicles, surveillance technology and other critical resources necessary to sustain the gains already recorded.
