Civil Society groups commend Arase, Police for averting bloodbath in Bayelsa

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Solomon Arase, officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force have been commended for his role in averting the projected widespread bloodbath in the recently concluded governorship election in Bayelsa State as well as recent achievements in curbing and bursting high profile crime cases in the country.

National Coordinator of the Coalition of Civil Society Groups, Bassey Etuk in a statement in Abuja this afternoon noted that Mr Arase maintained undue candour and maturity in the Bayelsa polls, including the December 5, 2015 and January 9, 2016 supplementary polls.

“We are aware that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mr Solomon Arase was under pressure to support either of the two main contending political parties. But he refused to yield to their whim one way or the other. Instead, he maintained unusual candour and maturity in the December 5, 2015 and January 9, 2016 elections”, he stated.

Etuk said that in spite of the many negative reports about what he called the “dubious role” of security agents, there was none which indicated that the police was significantly compromised and attributed this to the leadership abilities of the IGP.

“There were many negative reports about the dubious role of security agents in that election. But nothing untoward was recorded against the police to show that the force was significantly compromised in the elections. Perhaps, if the police had agreed to do the bidding of the politicians, the number of deaths would have been higher and the election permanently deadlocked”, he noted.

The civil society coalition also commended the police chief for working assiduously to reduce ‎wave of crime in the country, particularly the arrest of the ring leaders of the recent robbery in Festac, Lagos involving the theft of over N100 million.

“The arrest of the ring leaders of that robbery is unprecedented and the police deserves kudos for it. Several other high profile cases have also been nipped in the board. Except that we are yet to see the Force take a leading role in crime prevention and curtailing recurring incidences of the activities of insurgents “, he declared.