From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The first military governor of old Rivers and Chairman, Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers, the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff, has thrown his weight behind the creation of State Police.
He said those against the call for the establishment of state police were confused and ignorant.
Diete- Spiff, who spoke during the launch of a book titled “Gbogbosi-Gbogbosi (Never Again), a collection of memoir of the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970) and diary of Major Michael Oputa (retd), written by Osborne Robison, at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Yenagoa, argued that with state police, there would be improvement in security and stability of the country as well as increase in employment.
The monarch said those kicking against the idea are not abreast with the current situation in the country.
“Those against state police are wrong. If you make laws, you must have people to enforce them. It’s like breaking an egg to make an omelette. Why should people refuse state police based on the claim that state governors will hijack it for personal gains?
“If the country wants to go parliamentary, we should stay parliamentary. If we want to stay in the presidential system, we should stay presidential. We should even have police at the local government levels. If they are entitled, it is right. Frankly, the country should develop slowly. But if we go too fast, what we predicted could happen.”
“In the past, the local government councils had their police. They have the customary police and they did a good job. But, today, we deploy the military even to road blocks to the extent that they have lost their respect in the society. Let us have state police, we have come a long way. And when you imagine a situation where policemen from each state are on ground, who will go and hide in the bushes.
It will even create more jobs. It will make people have a sense of belonging in the country called Nigeria.”
The monarch, however, cautioned authors writing on the Nigerian Civil War not to open old wounds with new books, adding that old wounds are hard to heal.
The sources also claimed that the officer behind the online report, who they said is from Ebonyi State, had sometime ago, committed a “dismissal offence in Abuja” which led to his transfer out of the nation’s capital.
On the allegation that Enwereuzor invaded the home of one Chuks Egwuatu, in Enugu, and the illegal arrest and torture of four of his siblings, the DSS sources said that within the period as claimed in the report, he never visited Enugu State.
On the allegation that he arrested one Idara Gold for putting on an attire bearing the Biafra flag on October 18 on her birthday, the source said “Enwereuzor did not even know the Idara Gold and was not involved in the arrest.
The sources also debunked the allegation that Mr. Enwereuzor belonged to a team on a special duty in Enugu, adding that by his rank he was above such assignment and had nothing to do with it as a technical personnel.
Meanwhile, the DSS has enjoined Nigerians to disregard the report credited to the online news agency, alleging that the Service resorts to torture in a bid to extract information from suspects whenever an arrest is made.
A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the DSS, Peter Afunanya, described the claim as false and a figment of the news outlets’s imagination contrived to malign the Service.