Protest trails deployment of police commissioners

The deployment of police commissioners in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) may have elicited anger as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Conference of National Political Parties (CNPP) have picked holes in the choice of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s former Chief Security Officer (CSO), Kayode Egbetokun, as the new chief cop in Kwara State.

The PDP had earlier threatened to ditch the peace accord over what it called “the plot to redeploy a former Chief Security Officer to APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, CP Kayode Egbetokun, as Kwara State Commissioner of Police, where he has been handed the instruction to incite the people, cause pandemonium and pave the way for outright rigging in favour of President (Muhammadu) Buhari and all other candidates on the platform of APC.”

It claimed that, “this is in line with plans by the Buhari presidency and the APC to effect a mass deployment of top security officers, particularly the police, to intimidate, harass and manhandle Nigerians that will not support the self-succession bid of President Muhammadu Buhari as well as aiding APC thugs to snatch ballot boxes and orchestrate violence in the elections.”

Addressing reporters yesterday in Ilorin, the state chairman of the Conference of National Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Adebayo Lawal, said it would be odd to post Egbetokun to a “state where Tinubu is known to have strong interest in securing political dominance.”

The coalition of opposition parties recalled that the new CP had been announced as Lagos police boss at the tail of the immediate past IGP Ibrahim Idris’ administration but was reversed by his successor, Adamu Mohammed, perhaps on same ground of alleged partisanship.

It argued that the change was suspicious and indicated a “desperation on the part of the APC, more so, as the incumbent police commissioner in the state was only recently posted here.”

Lawal added: “Late yesterday, we received credible intelligence that the Federal Government had concluded plans with the police hierarchy to deploy Egbetokun to Kwara, which is in furtherance of their plot to manipulate the forthcoming elections in the state.”

According to the spokesman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, the appointees are to resume duties before the commencement of the general elections.