Commissioner of Police, in Kwara state, Kayode Egbetokun, has directed a full-scale investigation into an allegation of involvement of men of the police command in the demolition of disputed popular Ile Arugbo, Ilorin, with a view to determining the veracity of the allegations.
In a statement signed by the PPRO of the command, Ajayi Okasanmi, the police boss said that no policeman was deployed by the command for any demolition exercise anywhere in the state.
However, a sociopolitical group in the state, Kwara Advancement Initiative (KAI), led by Sulaiman Rasheed, has described denial by the police as confusing and incredulous.
It is recalled that report had it that security personnel including men of the police, civil defence and army, accompanied bulldozer used in the demolition of the property in the wee hours of last Thursday, allegedly firing gunshots and teargas canisters to disperse people around.
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The statement, titled, RE-DEMOLITION OF ILE-ARUGBO IN ILORIN, reads:
The Command wishes to respond to the news making the rounds in Kwara state and beyond, to the effect that Kwara State Police Command took an active part in the demolition of the property referred to as Ile-Arugbo along Iloffa road, GRA, Ilorin.
The Command wishes to make it clear that as part of its safety and crime prevention strategies in ensuring a hitch-free celebration during the Christmas and the new year festivities, Police patrol vans were stationed at strategic points across the state, including Iloffa road GRA, Ilorin on the 31/12/2019 being the new year eve. As was witnessed by all and sundry, the Christmas and new year celebrations were generally peaceful throughout the state. Our anti-crime deployment during this period has nothing to do with any demolition exercise in the state.
It is therefore shocking to the Commissioner of Police to hear the news of policemen shooting life ammunitions and firing teargas canisters at the scene of a demolition exercise.
For the purpose of emphasis, the Command wishes to immediately dispel the insinuations that the men reported having been firing indiscriminately during the demolition exercise were deployed by the Kwara state police command. No policeman was deployed by the command for any demolition exercise anywhere in the state and no policeman deployed for anticrime duties during the Christmas and new year celebrations fired a single shot of ammunition or canister during this period.
Consequently, the Commissioner of Police, Kwara State, Ag CP Kayode Egbetokun has immediately directed a full-scale investigation into this allegation with a view to determining the veracity of this report.
The Command hereby for the umpteen time wishes to reiterate the irrevocable commitment of the Commissioner of Police to principles of fairness, justice and the rule of law while making police service available and accessible to the people of Kwara state.
However, in a statement by the Kwara Advancement Initiative (KAI), titled, Ile Arugbo Demolition: Kwara Police Command is being economical with the truth, the sociopolitical group said that:
“The denial and claim by the Kwara State Command of the Nigerian Police Force that its officers were not deployed for the demolition of Ile Arugbo on Thursday morning are confusing and incredulous.
The Command is being economical with the truth and we want to believe that it is the heavy public condemnation that has trailed the conduct of the police during the demolition exercise that forced the Command to come out with this denial.
Certainly, it was men in a police uniform that escorted and provided security for officials of the Kwara State Government who carried out the demolition exercise. The exercise would not have been successful if no security men had accompanied the government officials who pulled down the building.
And there is overwhelming evidence that security operatives on the ground shot live ammunition and fired heavy teargas to disperse the crowd of protesters and sympathisers who kept vigil at the site.
Is the Kwara Police Command now telling us now that those reckless police officers who fired live bullets and teargas are not its men? Does it mean that the State Government imported policemen from outside the State? Or does the State Government under Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq now run a secret security outfit?
These are questions we need the Kwara Police Command and the State Government to provide answers to.
And if the Command wants us to believe that its men were not responsible for the unnecessary show of force and terror at Ile Arugbo last Thursday, we expect it to conduct a full investigation into this matter, make necessary arrest in the interest of peace, fairness and equity in Kwara state.
and then