Following the high spate of insecurity that has bedevilled Anambra lately, a human rights activist based in the state, Osita Obi has called on the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun to immediately redeploy the state Commissioner of Police, CP Nnaghe Obono Itam.
The activist said this has become very necessary as the CP has not shown the capacity in combating the menace of insecurity in the state.
There have been several spates of insecurity in Anambra recently, including the killing of about 16 people in Nibo during the New Yam festival, just close to the Police headquarters, another nine on Awka, a day after, and several other incidences, including kidnapping.
On Monday too, unknown gunmen said to be enforcing the proscribed sit-at-home order killed about five persons, injuring others.
Reacting to this, Obi said there was no way to distance the police from what was going on and if they are not capable of handling the issues, then it points to the lack of ideas by the man at the helm.
He said: “The truth of the matter is that the Anambra State Police Command under CP Itam is incompetent and clueless, and I am asking the IGP to redeploy him from Anambra State immediately.
“He shouldn’t wait until all of us die. You get to a bank and you see policemen carrying guns standing in front of the bank and making themselves available for targeting. The same thing happens at checkpoints where they expose themselves while extorting motorists.
“When the hoodlums come, they get them easily because they are not focused on the job they were asked to do.
“Today, the major work of the Police in the state is to settle land disputes. What is the correlation between the job of the police which is the security of lives and land disputes,” he queried.
He lamented that despite all the attacks in the state, none has been conclusively unravelled or culprits arrested and brought to book.
He, however, contended that those insisting that police have not been supported with equipment by the state government should go and ask the immediate past CP, Mr Aderemi Adeoye which support he used to fight criminals to a standstill just months back, before his eventual retirement.
