Police Arrest Six Officers For Failure To Tackle Hoodlums Who Set Fire On INEC Office In Ebonyi State

Police Arrest Six Officers For Failure To Tackle Hoodlums Who Set Fire On INEC Office In Ebonyi State

The Ebonyi State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of six of
its officers over incompetence saying the police officers were locked
up for not tackling the hoodlums who allegedly set fire to an
Independent National Electoral Commission Registration Area Centre in
the Ebonyi.  

ASP Loveth Odah, the state Police Public Relations Officer told
journalist today in Abakaliki that the affected officers were supposed
to guard the facility.

“We were not only appalled that the officers who were supposed to
guard the facility didn’t do so but that they did not offer any form of
resistance to the hoodlums We didn’t hear them shoot, wound or arrest
any of the hoodlums and for such act to be perpetuated without
resistance from our officers is unacceptable. The Nigerian Police is a
highly disciplined, effective organisation and its officers should be
ready to deliver optimum results at all times,” she said.

The PPRO said that the command had interrogated the affected officers
in the spirit of fair hearing which was one of its core values.

“They explained that the hoodlums switched-off the generator which
supplied power to the RAC as electricity supply to the area could not be
guaranteed. The situation, according to them, threw the entire area
into darkness and they did not want to shoot to avoid harming unintended
targets (innocent citizens). We are still not satisfied with their
explanations because of the negative effects of the dastardly act on the
electoral process in the area,” she said.  

She said the command was expecting a report from INEC over the incident as it would determine its next line of action. “The
INEC report will confirm whether the hoodlums tampered with the
generator to cause darkness in the area or not and such will guide us
appropriately in our next action. I appeal to the residents not to see
elections as a do-or-die affair as pupils of the affected school
reported the following Monday only to discover that they no longer had
classrooms,” she said.