By Itoro Godwin
RESIDENTS of Police Barracks, at number 6a, Ruxton Road, Ikoyi Lagos, have cried to the Inspector General Of Police (IGP), Mr Solomon Arase, to save them the embarrassment of planned forceful eviction by alleged Police authority.
The senior Police officers who stormed the premises of corporate office of the Sun Newspapers said the Police they have been serving under the rain and in the sun should save them the humiliation of throwing them away like common criminals.
According to a petition by O. Ajetunmobi on behalf of the traumatised officers, “we deem it fit to bring to your notice, the unlawful and iilegal sale of No 6A, Ruxton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, hereafter referred to as the baracks.
“The barracks comprises of 18 flats presently occupied by serving Police officers, and to their surprise, an Assistant Commissioner (ACP) Abubakar, attached to Department of logistics and supply, Force headquarters Annex , Kam Salem House, Lagos, came to inform our clients that the Police have gotten a buyer for the barracks. He ordered our clients to his office on their report, he compelled our clients to drop their bank accounts or risked the wrath of the force.
“Some of the occupants were credited with unsolicited sum of N6million while some were given N10million and asked to vacate the barracks. ”
We see this act as cruel, intimidating and callous to serving Police officers. This was during the time of Suleiman Abba. The officers rejected the money but we are surprised that the same issue has resurfaced again.
“It is based on this that we want to intimate you of the development. The purported sale is bereft of due process, transparency and probity. Police barracks is an inheritance of the Nigeria Police and must be protected for the generation to come.
“However, we know that the current IGP, Mr Solomon Arase, is a man of high intergrity with absolute honour, who is always ready to protect the interest of the Police officers.”
However, the senior Police officers who were weeping like orphans said “we are still serving Police officers. We are not retired.
“The Police deduct our monthly pay from our salaries. We don’t need the money ACP Abubakar forcefully forwarded into our accounts. This kind of humiliation cannot happen in the military. Why must we be humiliated.
‘Where do the Police management who we have been serving for many years want us to go when they throw us out? Where do they want our children to go. we are confused and the action is affecting our job. Our children are now living in fears.
When Daily Sun visited the barracks, behind the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) a quit notice pasted on the doors of the flats read: “The Inspector General of Police has noted that the president implementation committee ” (The presidency) has disposed off the Barracks in view of directives those who are not obliged are advised to do so before Sunday 8th May, 2016. Recovering of the property through forceful ejection will be effected on Monday 9, 2016.”
When contacted, the Force Public Relations Officer, (FPRO), ACP Bisi Kolawole said that the Inspector General of Police was looking into the issue “As it is now,I cannot brief you until further notice”.