From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
There is a serious dispute among the Osun State Police Command, Department of State Security (DSS) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
It was gathered that the security agaencies have been at loggerheads over superiority, thus causing disharmony among them and their officers. The recent parade of suspects by the Commissioner of Police in Osun, Olawale Olokode, where a suspect accused the NSCDC and DSS of connivance in kidnapping, was said to have compounded the matter.
A suspect, Akeem Ogunibi, who was paraded by the police for alleged kidnapping, was said to have fingered NSCDC personnel and DSS operatives in the kidnap of a bureau de change operator, Mallam Bala. A security source told our correspondent that the police commissioner arrested and detained the accused officers without informing the sister agencies.
It was gathered that the commandant of the NSCDC and the state director of DSS made extra efforts, only to discover that their officers were locked up and their mobile phones seized by the police.
A security source said the refusal of the commissioner of police to inform sister agencies infuriated the NSCDC and DSS and they perceived the action of the police as deliberate.
The source said the police have always been in haste to parade suspects without conducting any investigation on the allegations against them.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that Bala, who was said to have been kidnapped, was arrested by the security men over a business transaction.
Daily Sun gathered that the suspect, Ogunibi, was a customer who had gone to challenge Bala for undermining his brother who sold a gold chain to him.
Ogunibi was said to have invited the security agencies to arrest Bala, an allegation purportedly turned to kidnapping. It was gathered that Bala has revealed how he was arrested at Sabo Market, Osogbo, contrary to the report that he was kidnapped.
Sources quoted Bala as saying, “When the security men, one of them in NSCDC uniform, came to Sabo, they said ‘you are under arrest’.”
Efforts to speak with Bala proved futile as he was said to have left the state, having discovered that the matter had caused crisis between the security agencies. His mobile phone has been switched off.
When contacted, the commandant of the NSCDC, Emmanuel Ocheja, refused to comment on the incident, saying, “necessary step is being taken.”
Though it was gathered that the officers detained have been released, Ogunibi was yet to meet with the bail condition.
While a report said that the purported arrest of Bala happened on December 28, another report said it was December 30, 2021. The operatives of the DSS also refused to speak on the matter and efforts to see the director were futile.
But the Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, said the police informed NSCDC and DSS and their bosses came to the command’s office.
She said, “There is no way their bosses would have known if we didn’t inform them. When a suspect is first arrested, you may not know the person he/she is because it is not written on the head and the person is not in uniform. When a person is arrested and he didn’t wear uniform to where he went to commit the offence, nobody will know who they are. It is during investigation that they will know them.”
“Also, when a person is arrested for an offence, he may want to hide his identity. They may not contact their office at that time. So, nobody can allege the police on that because police can take anybody.”