The leadership of the Ohaneze Nd’igbo in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has condemned, loudly, the alleged mercantile activities of police officers on South East roads, lamenting the hardship the people of the area go through in their journeys across the zone.
A release by the Head of the Press and Public Relations Department of the Police Service Commission, PSC, Ikechukwu Ani, said a delegation of the Igbo socio-cultural group made the complaint during a visit to the PSC Chairman, Dr. Solomon Arase, a retired Inspector General of Police, in his office, Thursday, November 30, 2023.
The group, according to the by Ani, complained about the high level extortion by policemen, coupled with the indiscriminate road blocks that often cause friction between citizens and the police.
Consequently, the group called for the dismantling of the ‘toll collection’ road blocks in the zone, especially as the festive season approaches, during which the region and the South South often experience heavy traffic.
Responding, Dr. Arase promised to take up the matter with the Inspector General of Police, and used the occasion to plead with the leadership of Ohaneze to help stop the incessant killings of policemen in the zone.
“The killing of police officers in the South East is becoming worrisome,” Arase declared. “They are killing them everyday and they should let the killers know that the police is not their enemy. They have not done anything wrong. The Force has lost quite a number of serving officers in the South East.
“We are your friends. Stop making police wives widows. They are your sisters,” Arase pleaded.
The PSC Chairman, according to the release, noted that the problem of the South East is that of identity crisis, adding that “we have resolved the perceived marginalisation of the zone in the police representation in the country.”
Leader of the delegation, Elder (Bar) Onwu Arua, Presudent, OHANEZE ND’IGBO FCT Chapter, said the organization was deeply 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 Police Recruitment apparatus to redress the disadvantages of South East in the Nigeria Police structure.
