…VOWS TO SUSTAIN FIGHT AGAINST CULTISM, BANDITRY
The Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), former Inspector General of Police, Dr. Solomon Arase (retd) has said that the online publication on the ongoing reorganisation in the Nigerian Police which involved the transfer of certain categories of Officers from some states of the federation is infantile.
The said publication gave the impression that the PSC Chairman was responsible for the transfers that affected Officers from his state of Edo.
He disclosed that since the cult war started in Edo state last November, over 30 people have been killed, adding that as the former Inspector General of Police, he amputated cult dons and charged them to court, although unfortunately the powers that be released these outlaws upon his retirement. The records he noted are still with the Edo State Judiciary.
“Since the gang war commenced in the state in November last year, close to 30 persons have been killed.”
In a statement on Thursday signed by the Head, Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani castigated the reports as that of the imagination of the publisher.
According to the report “the Inspector General of Police and the PSC Chairman…collected money from Obaseki, the Edo State Governor to transfer us out of the Command” adding that “the PSC Chairman did the same transfer when he was the Inspector General of Police and it was stopped by the former PDP Chairman, late Chief Anthony Anenih of blessed memory.”
The publication went as low as alleging that “Arase is the only Police IGP who dismissed Policemen from his village and when the elders called him, he told them that it is a national issue and not community issue.”
The Commission is however happy that the Police Management has sufficiently addressed the issues raised in the publication and that the transfers were routine reorganisation in the Force which involved the transfer of Officers who have served for a long period in a particular state which it also noted is “a crucial aspect of maintaining effectiveness and professionalism”.
The Police Management also mentioned the states currently undergoing the reorganisation which included Edo, Delta, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom.
According to the Police, these states and some others have been earmarked for this first phase of reorganisation to enhance efficiency and accountability, and this exercise is a tradition and sacrosanct”.
Dr. Arase, however, insisted that he has no apology for his known tradition of standing for a Police Force that is committed to nation-building through the protection of lives and properties, maintenance of the rule of law, and freeing the nation of the menace of cultists, bandits and other marauding deviants across the country.
Dr. Arase says that he cannot be diminished to operate as a provincial Nigerian who thinks first of himself or his kindred before national interest.
The allegation that he was the only Police IGP who dismissed Policemen from his village, he noted was ridiculous and infantile, insisting that he will always fight crime and criminality anywhere it raises its head whether it is in his village or somewhere else.
The PSC Chairman confirmed that he wrote the Governor of his state and copied the Inspector General of Police last December on the deteriorating state of affairs in Edo state particularly the recent surge in cult-related violence and demanded urgent and decisive action.
He said in the letter that the situation was further worsened by the failure of the Judiciary to successfully prosecute these cases which has allowed these criminals to roam freely, perpetuating violence and instilling fear among the people.
Dr. Arase declared that he had zero tolerance for violent crimes when he served the nation as the 18th Inspector General of Police and had successfully dominated the security space with intelligence policing. He pledged to continue to contribute to the restoration of peace and safety in Nigeria.
