….rejects State Police
From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Ndigbo Unity Forum ( NUF ) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to recruit 5000 policemen yearly for the next five years to protect and secure Nigerians who have been under siege for the past 15 years.
The group said that the call became imperative because moving around the country, one only noticed the presence of soldiers on major roads and streets to checkmate crime which is not their primary duty.
The President of NUF Mr. Augustine Chukwudum in a statement said that soldiers were trained to protect the country from external aggression and not to do the job of policing the country, saying that duty of police is to provide internal security as it is done all over the world.
“Because of bad and corrupt rulers between 1985 till date that failed to uplift Nigerian Police to the level that it supposed to be, those past evil and corrupt rulers end up to ruined Nigerian Police and made them to end up collecting money openly in broad daylight with gun in all the streets and major highways across the country from motorists, keke operators and heavy duty vehicles thereby making them most corrupt police in the world.
“This crime with impunity has been ongoing for long and anyone who challenge them received the beaten of his or her life while some are framed up. That’s why NUF is drawing attention of Mr President Tinubu to what the citizens are going through on the hands of those who are supposed to protect them. The worst part of it is our so called State House of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senators who are seeing all these crimes and pretend as if they are not aware that electorates who elect them are been maltreated like animals.
“NUF is raising this alarm because all the past government from federal, states and local governments between 1985 till date neglected police to the extend that money budgeted for police are not released to them to carry out their duty as required, sometimes even when the money was released, it was late thereby deprived them of fund and less than fifty percent at the end of the year.
“The security budget is not supposed to be delayed at all, there’s no justification for it. That’s why anytime you go to police to report matter they will ask you to mobilise them before they will perform their constitutional duty, if you fail they will abandon you.
“NUF wishes once again to condemn calls for state police by Governors as idiotic, selfishness because governors will use it to kill their political opponents and opposition. That’s those who oppose their evil policy. Then, they will become dictators and we will continue to oppose them because the security votes they collect every month are not accounted for ranging from N500 million to N1 billion per state every month. Why can’t they use these security votes they collect to equip police to eliminate crimes, criminals and terrorists that is major problem we have in Nigeria today.
“Instead the governors are busy looting state treasury in the name of security votes and later turn back and give us rubbish and criminal excuse that they are not the one controlling police,which is not acceptable to the suffering masses of Nigerians because you cannot eat your cake and have it.
” NUF hereby makes the following suggestions; federal Government must strength police by recruiting 5000 policemen yearly for the next five years and they must be trained in modern policing, while those already in the service must be retrained regularly.
“We call on federal government to equip police with modern equipment which has been used in developed countries that police can do the job effectively by securing life and properties which is the primary responsibility and not extortion as we all are seeing today
“Security votes being collected by Governors monthly must be abolished, any kobo spent on security by any state Governor must be accounted for because the citizens of this country will no longer accept looting by the state Governors in the name of security votes only for the money to end up in private pockets” Chukwudum stated.