Stop harassing me of missing police vehicles – Arase

The immediate past Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, has faulted claims that 19 assorted vehicles, belonging to the Nigeria Police Force, were recovered from him.

He also raised the alarm that some forces were bent on tarnishing his image, challenging his critics to make public the number plates of such recovered vehicles and where they were recovered from.

Arase, in a statement he signed and obtained by National Daily, in Abuja, on Monday warned that he would not hesitate to seek legal redress if those desperate to tarnish his image failed to desist.

His reaction came on the heels of a similar allegation on July 18, which followed another media report that 19 out of 24 vehicles he allegedly took away upon retirement had been recovered from him.

Arase said, “It is embarrassing for me to wake up on Monday morning to be inundated with calls and messages on the purported 19 vehicles recovered from me. I wish to reassure the general public that there was nothing like that. Like I said in July, I did not take any police vehicle with me outside what I was entitled to, and so, there couldn’t have been any vehicle recovered from me.

“If there was any of such, those behind this campaign of calumny should please make the number plates of the vehicles public and where they were recovered from.

“Rather than dissipating so much energy on ‘project drag Arase down’, I urge those behind this evil campaign to face their official responsibility for which much is expected from them by the nation.

“I have done my bit and my own records bear me witness. Let those daily frightened by the shadow of Arase learn to face reality and stop chasing shadows so that they are not hunted by same.”