Kogi State Police Command has given the Spokesman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) , Farouk Adejoh, a 24-hour ultimatum to substantiate his allegations against the Command and the state Commissioner of Police.
SP Ovye William, the command’s Public Relation Officer in a statement in Lokoja on Thursday said any failure on the part of Farouk to substance the allegation within the stipulated time might force the police to hold him accountable.
Farouk Adejoh, the Director of Media, Muri /Sam Governorship Campaign Council had in a statement on Wednesday alleged that the Kogi State Police Command and the state Commissioner of Police were responsible for recruiting and supporting thugs in support of a certain political party or personalities.
Aya, however , described the allegations as reckless and without substance.
Full text of the statement by the Kogi State Police Command : ” Our attention has been drawn to a reckless allegation against the Kogi State Police Command and the Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Command, claiming that the CP was responsible for recruiting and supporting thugs in support of a certain political party or personalities.
” It is not the tradition of the Police Command to respond to all allegations, especially frivolous ones by politicians accusing us of bias, but the last one by one Farouk Adejoh who claimed to be speaking on behalf of the Social Democratic Party, is a direct affront on the integrity and authority of the Nigerian Police Force, hence the need to set the record straight.
“The Command is hereby giving Farouk Adejoh 24 hours to substantiate his allegations against the State Police Command and the CP or we might have no option than to invoke our operational processes to hold him to account for his reckless and unsubstantiated claims.
“The Police Command doesn’t belong to any political party.
“Our responsibility is to protect lives and property, a mandate we have protected without fear or favour.
“Today, we received reports of a protest gone awry at the State Office of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“The CP swiftly directed the deployment of officers and men to restore normalcy at the INEC Office.
“Our concern is the protection of the staff and property of the Electoral Commission as well as the safety of the citizens transacting businesses around the INEC Office.
” With the support of other security agencies, calm was restored at the INEC State Headquarters.
“How the operation that restored peace at the INEC Office has infuriated the Social Democratic Party is what we don’t understand.
“The protesters who blocked the road and were burning tires to scare people were all wearing the fez caps of the Social Democratic Party.
“The Police Command hereby sounds a note of warning to the SDP and other political parties to desist from disturbing the peace of the state as anyone that tries to obstruct operations at the INEC Office will face the full wrath of the law.
“The CP has therefore, unbiasedly directed full investigations into the allegations raised in Farouk Adejoh’s statement with a view to ensure that a final knell is placed on attempts by politicians to drag the Police Force into partisan disagreements. We are for all Nigerians.
“While other parties have conducted themselves in a relatively peaceful manner, the activities of the Social Democratic Party has generated a lot of security concerns before, during and after the election.
“They have refused to cooperate with the Nigerian Police in dealing with security issues, a situation that has raised tension in the state.
” He urge all parties to have faith in the judiciary and refrain from taking the laws in their hands.
“Any breach of peace henceforth will be dealt with decisively and without compromise, no matter the elements involved.
“The State Police Command wishes to assure Kogites of their safety as plans have been put in place to guarantee peace.”
Full Text of the controversial Press Release issued by Farouk Adejoh : “POLICE COMMISSIONER ONUOHA DEPLOYS POLICE, THUGS TO AMBUSH SDP LEGAL TEAM
Information just reaching us indicates that the thoroughly compromised Commissioner of Police in Kogi State, Mr Bethrand Unuoha has deployed some policemen and thugs to lay ambush to and attack lawyers, forensic experts of the Social Democratic Party ( SDP) and INEC officers who are at the moment in INEC office Lokoja inspecting documents and materials used for the November 11 in compliance with an order of the Kogi State Governorship Elections Tribunal.
The police commissioner who was privy to the orchestrated insurrection in INEC Office by thugs of Yahaya Bello Wednesday morning was forced to disperse the thugs after a directive from Abuja following public outcry against the brazen attempt to use violence to truncate the judicial process.
But unhappy that he was compelled to disperse the mob of thugs who were working in his partisan interest, Unuoha has contrived a back up plan to ambush SDP lawyers and forensic analysts and the INEC personnel who are expected to evacuate the sensitive materials in INEC to Abuja due to the insecurity of Kogi State.
We are informed that the rogue police team in mufti operating with the thugs are in about five unmarked Toyota Sienna Buses and are covering every exit route out of INEC. They have been detailed to trail our team and INEC personnel and shoot at their convoys.
This plot is to provide an excuse for INEC collaborators of Mr Bello to claim that the sensitive documents and materials imperative to the prosecution of the SDP petition were lost to the attackers.
The Kogi Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal had on Saturday ordered INEC to allow the legal team of the SDP and its candidate to inspect the materials and documents used or emanating from the elections. This is the order Mr Onuoha has been procured by the Outlaw Governor of Kogi State Mr Yahaya Bello to truncate.
We are crying out to the world to be informed that any attack on our advocates or INEC personnel or the INEC office leading to loss of documents and materials or resulting in human casualties or fatalities is orchestrated by the police commissioner, Mr Bethrand Unuoha who has reduced his esteemed office to operational headquarters of Bello’s thuggery activities.
It will be recalled that this same police commissioner took credit for the cold blooded murder of five persons including three serving police officers on November 8, just three days to election, in an attack by a rogue force of policemen and thugs unleashed on the residence of our Campaign Director General, Ustaz Sheik Ibrahim.
One police inspector Atabor was killed at the scene of attack while two others, one of them Inspector Egbunu was taken alive and executed by Unuoha’s thugs in the bush while they were being taken to Lokoja.
Same Bethrand Unuoha as police commissioner was first busted on Wednesday October 18 ,2023 in the act of renting out policemen to participate in thuggery operations when a serving Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) was taken alive in a failed assasination attempt on our candidate and he voluntarily confessed in a now viral video that he was detailed to follow the thugs by his superiors in the Kogi State Police Command.
Before then we had repeatedly cried out against Mr Bethrand Unuoha using the cover of his office to aid and abet violence with a view to creating an atmosphere of fear and dread in the communities to cause voter’s apathy.
It is on record that not a single member of the SDP has been arrested, implicated or indicted in any acts of violence or thuggey all through the campaign or elections.
But trigger happy Mr Unuoha apparently working for Bello tried unsuccessfully to bait our supporters into violence and when that failed, he launched the attack which took the lives of three police personnel in cold blood. The two other persons killed in the attack were teenage nephews of the Ustaz Sheik Ibrahim who were attacked and shot in their sleep.
The public should hold the Nigerian Police responsible for any violent attacks leading to frustration of the judicial process.
We raised alarm earlier that the insurrection thugs led by Mohammed Gegu, a thug and gunman who acts as PA to Bashir Gegu, Bello’s Aide were wearing SDP Tshirts and face caps printed for them by Bello’s crime organization otherwise referred to as the Kogi State Government.
Mr Unuoha the chief police collaborator earlier today referred to Bello’s thugs whom he personally know and can identify (after working closely with them for over 4 months) as “SDP supporters” on protest.
For the avoidance of doubt, there’s no single SDP member among the thugs hired by Bello and we challenge Unuoha to put down the insurrection with maximum force since he is claiming the thugs are SDP supporters.
We challenge him to identify a single member of the SDP in the crowd of insurrectionists he participated in organizing.
Isn’t it embarrassing to the police high command that again the military had to be drafted to chase away the thugs because Mr Bethrand Unuoha deliberately undermined the job of securing INEC for the thugs to gain control?
We call on the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun to in the name of God take this police man out of Kogi and save our people from deliberate state-orchestrated violence.
Several of our people including his own policemen have died as a result of series of violence ignited by this commissioner. Now that the elections are over, citizens of Kogi need security and liberty, but Onuoha as commissioner of police totally endangers these needs of the people.
Faruk Adejoh-Audu
Spokesman,
Muri-Sam Campaign Council
Wednesday, November 11,2023.”(vitalnewsngr.com)
