Cross River State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Obi-Ozeh, has declared as illegal and criminal the 1500-member Green Police inaugurated on May 26 this year and recently retooled with 10 branded fast cars by Governor Ben Ayade.
At the launch, he had said: “You are the Green eyes of Africa and have been conferred with powers to enforce the state’s sanitation laws and policies. You can arrest and issue warrants while ensuring that all citizens and residents comply with the state’s sanitation and environmental policies.”
But Obi-Ozeh told newsmen yesterday in Calabar that “the Green Police will be clamped down on if they are seen operating in the state. It is a breach of the 1999 constitution (as amended).”
He went on: “According to Section 214, there shall be a Police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigerian Police Force and subject to the provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established.
“I am here to defend the constitution. I need not to wait for my Inspector General to carry out my duty if anyone is breaching the criminal aspect of the constitution. What I can do is to take action and brief my IG and that is the action I have taken.”
Meanwhile, the Bakassi Strike Force (BSF) in Cross River State has declared a ceasefire, as a human rights group said more than 200 indigenes were missing since “September 2, 2016 when the Nigerian Army invaded Efut Esighi and Bakassi.”
It noted that the military high command launched its Operation Crocodile Smile through the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on September 7.
Briefing reporters in Calabar, the wanted leader of BSF, Simply Benjamin (aka G1), said: “With the intervention of some well-meaning Nigerians and international friends, who we shall not name for now, we have again offered to lay down our arms, embrace peace and work with government to address the problems of Bakassi people.”
Represented by their counsel, Ozinko Ozinko, the leadership added: “As a mark of faith and demonstration of seriousness, on November 8, 2016 by 16.30 hours, we returned all the weapons our fighters captured during the last confrontation with the Nigerian Army at the agreed drop off zone.
“We call on the whole world and the United Nations to note this unilateral declaration of ceasefire and return of captured weapons while we await a response from the Nigerian government.
“But we shall not wait forever while maggots continue to feed on our land and resources yet we are dying of hunger, rape, slavery and oppression.”Benjamin, who maintained that the struggle was altruistic, claimed that the group had resisted foreign pressure to destabilise the country.
