PCRC leadership denies defilement petition against Police in Imo

The leadership of the police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) has dissociated itself from a widely circulated petition on all-age defilement indicting the Nigerian Police in Imo state

The Chairman of PCRC, Imo State, Mr Chima Chukwunyere, disclosed this to newsmen in Owerri on Friday.

The PCRC boss frowned at the petition, describing it as a deliberate effort to undermine the integrity and good image of the PCRC in Imo while advising members of the public to take the petition and its content with a pinch of salt.

He recalled that the petition addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, alleging defilement of women by police personnel has been making the rounds in sections of the media.

Chukwunyere insisted that the petition, currently being circulated in some sections of the social and conventional media, does not represent the interests of the PCRC.

According to him, the writer of the petition, Ogumba Onyeaghala, is not known to the PCRC at the state, national, or zonal levels and should therefore not lay claim to membership of the committee in any form whatsoever.

He said, “We have already established a system that allows any member of the PCRC who has issues with the police to forward their grievances to the PCRC chairman for necessary action.”

Chukwunyere pointed out that the petitioner has failed obviously because he is not a member of the PCRC and we therefore dissociate ourselves from him and the petition.

He said: “it is my responsibility to protect members of the PCRC but this manner of fabrication against the police is not in our nature”.

He called for a thorough, unbiased investigation into the allegations contained in the petition to determine the substance of the matter and prevent its recurrence, as the results of preliminary investigations had already countered the claims in the petition.

He, however, restated the PCRC’s commitment to effective representation of the civil public and ensuring a cordial relationship between the police and the public.

He said, “Membership of the PCRC is open to members of the public except ex-convicts, cultists, and known criminals.”

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