TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Police Command and the chairman of Tai Local Government Area of the state have criticized themselves over the recent weapons’ submission by suspected armed gangs in the area.
State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), had earlier described the purported amnesty to some gang members in the LGA as a charade.
Omoni faulted the refusal of some gang members from submitting their weapons and advised them to take advantage of the amnesty window offered to them, or be ready to face the law.
He said: “That is not amnesty if you ask me. Amnesty means repentant militants, repentant criminals, repentant cultists turning in their arms and repenting from their criminality and promising to change and believed that they are going to be rehabilitated and reintegrated in the society. So, what they did is not amnesty, if you ask me”.
In swift reaction, the Tai council boss, Jacob Senigba, has denied offering amnesty to some gang members in Tai LGA as alleged by the state Police command.
Tai chairman clarified that he only gave them an opportunity to submit their arms and local weapons following rising cases of violent activities in the LGA.
The chairman said the claim by the police spokesman, Omoni, that he offered amnesty to some suspected armed gangs in the area was a display of ignorance and lack of knowledge of what transpired.
“Ordinarily, I should have ignored the comment by the police spokesperson in Rivers State, that I offered amnesty to suspected cultists in Tai.
“I want to state as follows, that Tai LGA did not offer any amnesty to suspected cultists in the area; but, merely asked cultists in Tai to submit their arms, charms and other weapons and embrace peace.
“The initiative was an outcome of a decision reached at a stakeholders’ meeting at Saakpenwa, on June 20, 2020, and attended by security agencies, political leaders, traditional rulers and CDC members”, he emphasized.