PSC launches crackdown on corrupt security operatives in South -East

Amah Samuel-Ugbor Nnachi,
South-East Region Bureau Chief

Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Hashimu Argungu, has issued a stern warning to police operatives in the Southeast states, stating that insurgency and Biafra agitation cannot be used as excuses for corruption and extortion.

Argungu emphasized that while the commission acknowledges the high level of insecurity in the region, this must not be used as a justification for abuse of office by security personnel.

Argungu warned that Police operatives should not use insurgency and Biafra agitation as excuses for corruption and extortion in the South-East states.

Argungu gave the warning at the South-East Stakeholders Summit on Peace and Security, organized by the Nigerian Bar Association in conjunction with South-East Civil Society Organisations in Enugu on Friday.

This is even as the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe has expressed concern over the attitude of the federal government on growing insurgency in the southeast states.

Represented by the Public Relations Officer of the Police Service Commission, Ikechukwu Ani, Argungu said the commission was aware there was insecurity fuelled by Biafra agitation in the region, saying that must not be an excuse for corruption and extortion.

Argungu said, “The Commission is very much interested in what is happening here today especially as it affects the entire south East. We are no longer comfortable with the abuse of Office by some security personnel detailed to provide security across this region.

“We understand that there is a high level of insecurity in the zone, especially with the ceaseless and senseless attacks from brainwashed youths from this zone masquerading as freedom fighters and killing their brothers and sisters. But that obviously should not and never be an excuse to relapse into corruption by the security Agencies.

“The Commission has continued to observe the corruption and extortion that dots all the roads traversing this region by virtually all the security operatives who are supposed to safeguard the roads and restore unhindered movement of people, goods, and services. The roadblocks mounted by these security Agencies have unfortunately turned into toll gates where road users are forced under gunpoint to part with money.

“The Commission is also aware of the serious human rights violations by some misguided Police Officers in the South East, who against the Commission’s several warnings to stay away from civil matters have continued to swim in it because of the financial attraction”.

He added, “The Commission hereby warns that it will no longer tolerate this serious act of indiscipline and human right abuses and will henceforth not hesitate to put its disciplinary processes in motion to see to the dismissal of such errant Officers”.

On his part, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe expressed the concern over what he described as the deliberate refusal of the Federal Government to confront the rising cases of insecurity across the South-East states.

He said the Government was yet to address insecurity in the zone even as it was spreading.

He said, “The violence we see in the southeast is man-made and has made it difficult for people to live their lives normally. The federal government appears to have abandoned the southeast as there is no sustained effort to address the issue. I just wonder why there is no deliberate effort to address it.

“Many Igbo people can’t go to their villages and we have a very big problem. The economy of the southeast is dying as people are scared of investing”, Osigwe said.

A Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law, Chidi Odinkalu who was the Keynotes Speaker on, “Fostering Lasting Peace and Security: Collaborative Approaches to Address Insecurity and Human Rights violations in the South-East”, identified cultism, disregard for policing, porous Borders, lack of coordination; among as some of the factors fuelling the insurgency in the zone.