….. Decries mercantile police activities on eastern roads.
….. I will forward your complaints to IGP Says PSC Chairman.
The leadership of the OHANEZE ND’IGBO in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja has decried the mercantile activities of Officers of the Nigeria Police Force on Southeast roads and lamented the hardship the people of the area go through while undertaking journeys across the zone.
A press release on Thursday, 30th November 2023 signed by the PSC Head of Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani, said that a delegation of the Igbo ethnic group visited the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Dr. Solomon Arase CFR, retired Inspector General of Police in his Office, today, Thursday, November 30th, 2023, where they complained of the high-level extortion by Policemen and the indiscriminate roadblocks that have become unpleasant between the citizens and the Police.
They called for the dismantling of the fee-paying roadblocks in the zone especially with the coming heavy traffic expected during the Christmas and New Year period in the South Zone.
Dr. Arase who promised to take up the matter with the Inspector General of Police also used the occasion to plead with the leadership of OHANEZE to stop the incessant killings of Policemen in the zone.
According to Arase, “The killings of Police Officers in the Southeast are becoming worrisome. They are killing them every day and they should let the killers know that the Police are not their enemy. They have not done anything wrong. The Force has lost several serving Officers in the South East.
“We are your friends, stop making Police wives widows, they are your sisters” he noted.
Dr. Arase said the problem of the Southeast is that of identity crisis adding that ” we have resolved the perceived marginalization of the zone in the Police representation in the country.
The leader of the Delegation, Elder (Bar) Onwu Arua, President OHANEZE ND’IGBO FCT Chapter said the Organization was concerned about the lack of interest of the Igbos in the current ongoing recruitment exercise for Constables into the Police Force.
Elder Araua however called for a more elaborate plan in the Police Recruitment apparatus to redress the disadvantages of Southeast in the Nigeria Police structure.
