By Dianabasi Effiong
The leadership of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja has decried the mercantile activities of Officers of the Nigeria Police Force on South East roads and lamented the hardship the people of the area go through while undertaking journeys across the zone.
A delegation of the group visited the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Dr. Solomon Arase in his Office, Thursday where they complained of the high level extortion by Police men and the indiscriminate road blocks that have become unpleasant between the citizens and the Police.
They called for the dismantling of the fee paying road blocks in the zone especially with the coming heavy traffic expected during the Christmas and new year period.
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 Ohanaeze to stop the incessant killings of Policemen in the zone.
According to Arase, ” the killings of Police Officers in the South East is becoming worrisome. 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 have lost quite a number of serving Officers in the South East.
“We are your friends, stop making Police wives widows, they are your sisters” he noted.
Arase said 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.
The leader of the Delegation, Elder Onwu Arua, President of the 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 Arua however called for a more elaborate plan in Police Recruitment apparatus to redress the disadvantages of South East in the Nigeria Police structure.
