-By Zik Gbemre
HERDSMEN KILLING IN DELTA: SHAME ON IG EGBETOKUN
Is it not shameful and embarrassing that the PRO Police Force Headquarters, ACP Olumuyiwa 'Muyiwa' Adejobi on Saturday 23 March 2024 confirmed the murder of police officers on official engagement by suspected Fulani herdsmen in the bushes of Agadama and Ohoror villages of Uwherun in Ughelli North LGA of Delta State.
This is an incident I wrote about on March 7, 2024 and till date CP Delta State,
Abaniwonda Surajudeen Olufemi and his officers at Delta Police Command are silent about it as if those police officers killed were not human beings. Nigerian Police officers who were murdered by suspected herdsmen in Ughelli North LGA Delta State.
The silence of the police is the height of carelessness and inhumanity to their officers on legitimate duty, unlike the soldiers that were killed few days ago in Delta. It is believed that the soldiers went on illegal duties to Ukuama Community which led to the killing of soldiers by unknown gun men and killing of locals and burning down of Okuama village by soldiers on a 'questionable peace mission'.
I condemn the killing of soldiers and Okuama locals/people that their village was unlawful burnt by soldiers. Why has the police not officially declared this brutal killing of their men by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Agadama and Ohoror bushes in Uwherun of Ughelli North LGA?
This is very embarrassing that the Nigerian police was able to suppress this story. Very shameful of the IG Olukayode Egbetokun and Delta CP to have suppressed the murder of their officers for such a long time.
Are the police officers not human beings? Can the Inspector-General of Police (IG),DIGs, AIGs, CPs, DCPs and ACPs perform their duties without the rank and file in the police force? Some of the corpses recovered by local community vigilantes were already decomposing before they were handed over to the police.
What a shame that the police couldn't even recover their dead officers sent on official mission to recover the three police officers that were kidnapped by the suspected Fulani herdsmen.
I advise President Bola Tinubu's APC led administration to always appoint people who can perform rather than using ethnicity, nepotism or tribal sentiments in appointments of public officers including board members and Heads of agencies/parastatals, police, army, airforce which should be based on merit and not just applying nepotism, tribal sentiments or just people with accumulated worthless degrees that they can't defend.
What is required in appointments of public officers are people who have capacity to deliver on their roles. If you have acquired degrees and certificates and the holders can't perform in his/her official roles it means the degrees are worthless and useless.
Records of performance and capacity to deliver should be the criteria to appoint public officers, be it in the security agencies or Federal/States agencies and parastatals.
There is need to enhance the police and stop them from performing roles of 'stop and search' on roads aimed to arrest motorists with frivolous offences that make them harassing innocent Nigerians.
Joe Ogbodu of BIG PEN ONLINE PUBLISHERS stated in online chats that", The issue of police failures to open up on that incident started trending on social media hence they ran quickly to issue that statement. That's the backlash.
"Today the PPRO who refused to confirm the incident when a journalist called him is the one sharing this statement today because they saw wide condemnation that greeted the soldiers killing. They don't even value their own talk less of life of the ordinary people".
The police should be ashamed that their officers that were murdered and was reported, took them weeks to officially confirm. What a disgrace. The Police high command and top officers are not interested because money is not involved.
Let us make this country a good place to live in and do business. The police has a wide range of roles and should move away from collection of roadside money and detaining people unlawfully in their stinking cells for fabricated offences.
When they retire they will still go back to the same society and meet the people they once harassed when serving as police officers. And the government of the day should equip the police with modern communication gadgets and functional vehicles.
I agree with Solomon Arase, Chairman Police Service Commission, PSC who said in a statement he issued through the Head and Public Relations on Sunday March 24,2024 in Abuja that, "There must be consequences for this avoidable incidents.
Any State Commissioner of Police found incompetent, derelict and operational/tactically porous should be eased out to avoid these huge police casualties.
We have had more than fair share of these ugly developments in recent times and called for an integrated intelligence policing. The killings in some states across the nation has become worrisome,"said Arase.
Zik Gbemre
March 25,2024
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
