AIG Echeng Echeng, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 9 Command, has stated that the Command will not tolerate Simon Ekpa’s two-week sit-at-home order. According to the AIG, who spoke through the Zonal Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO Bruno Iheanetu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), permitting the order by a non-state actor indicated that the police had failed.
Iheanetu, who spoke exclusively to Vanguard following Ekpa’s new directive, stated that the police “cannot swallow such an order”.
“Definitely, the police will do their work which is to secure lives and property.
“We cannot ask law-abiding citizens to stay indoors for two weeks because of a sit-at-home order issued by non-state actors.
“Asking citizens to stay at home for two weeks will be a slap on the face of the Nigeria Police. We cannot swallow that.
“If law-abiding citizens are forced to stay indoors for two weeks, that means the Nigeria police have failed!”
According to the Zonal PPRO, the AIG has already called a conference of all the Commissioners of Police under the Command to discuss how to approach the situation tactically.
He went on to say that heavy equipment and troops had been dispatched to protect the lives and property of residents.
“The AIG has summoned a meeting of all CPs in the zone. Equipment and manpower have been deployed to curb the menace of sit-at-home enforcers and other non-state actors in the zone.
“The CPs have been handed operational orders on how to checkmate the excesses of these non-state actors.
“We have identified the black spots, and we have the nipping points. Manpower and heavy equipment have been deployed to man all the black spots.”
cc: Vanguard Ng
