Police ban vigilance activities in Gombe

FOLLOWING the killing of a student of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Gombe State, Usman Abubakar, police in the state have issued a ban on the activities of local vigilante groups.

Announcing the ban in a press statement signed and made available to The Guardian by the State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Fwaje Atajiri, the police stated that the Command is annoyed with the activities of the groups who illegally take laws into their hands.

Atajiri said investigation had revealed that the vigilante groups operate with impunity as they arrest and detain innocent persons while inhuman and degrading treatment is being meted on their victims.

The police spokesman, who explained that on Thursday, May 14, 2015, the vigilante group illegally arrested one Usman Abubakar, a student of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Gombe and tortured him to death, said the police had begun investigation into the matter and that some arrests had already been made.

The statement further said: “In view of the above, the Gombe State Police Command has placed a total ban on vigilante group in the state. Anyone found parading himself/herself as a member of vigilante in the state will be arrested and prosecuted according to the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

In another development, the newly-elected President-General of Igbo Community Welfare Association in Gombe State, Chief Kenneth Onyebuchi Okeugo, has urged Igbo in the state to give total support to Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo to enable him continue with the developmental work in the state.

Okeugo, who made the call while speaking with journalists shortly after he took over the leadership of the association at Gombe Jewel Hotel yesterday, advised members of the association to adopt the wise approach of using dialogue as a tool to resolve differences among the Igbo and other ethnic groups in the state.

Also speaking, the out-going President-General of the association, Chief Evaristus Ikwumezie Chukwuaku, advised the new administration to support the Igwe Council and Chiefs in effort to move the Igbo people forward.

He said as peace is gradually coming back to the North-East, Igbo need Igwe and Onowu, adding: “Service to man is service to God and remember that all the elected officers are not paid but God Almighty will surely pay us at that last day.”

Chukwuaku, who called on the Igbo to promote culture of speaking the native language, advised every Igbo man and woman to bring up their children according to the culture so that every child can be recognised as an Igbo.