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By Madu Obi
The Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye has alleged that some powerful individuals in the society influence the course of justice by securing the release of arrested cultists and criminals in Anambra State.
Speaking at the Congress of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, in Awka, Adeoye, who spoke through the
Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Akin Fakorede, regretted that amidst the progress that had restored normalcy in the state, some influential persons and enemies of progress were working tirelessly to sabotage the efforts of the security operatives in securing the state.
This, he added, has resulted to the few security breaches that occurred in the state in recent time, including attacks on police stations and the cult-related killings that surged in Awka.
He said: “When those things that have happened over a period of time begin to happen again, the question people should ask is Why?
“Could you imagine that the cultists we arrested, charged to court, and got remanded in prison custody, that some powerful locals are going to the judiciary to lobby to get them released? And some have been released. And they are the ones unleashing this mayhem again!
“Secondly, you must have heard of the AK-47 we recently recovered from a suspect in Awada. What the suspect told us was that they procured it for him to engage in a showdown with a rival cult group."
"Now, if that AK-47 was not recovered or had joined the recent cult-related clash, could you imagine what the casualty level would have been?."
“We are not relenting at all and we will never. We are sustaining the battle and the manhunt, and we are taking the battle to them. They are on the run."
“We are already going after the cultists and if we find that anybody is subverting justice, or is subverting due process to get the cultists off the hook, they will face the music, notwithstanding whether the person is in the judiciary or civil populace."
He wondered what people aim to achieve by sabotaging security efforts and sponsoring crimes in society, assuring, however, that the police would not relent in battling and taking the fight to the criminal elements in the state.
On the recent gunmen attack on Police Stations in the state, he said that security operatives went after the hoodlums immediately and have continued to take the battle to them in their camps, which has resulted to the raiding and destruction of many of the insurgents’ hideouts in different parts of the state, including inside forests at Achalla, Ogbunka Aguluezechukwu, and Ogboji communities.
While noting that just one Improvised Explosive Device (IED) could be used to burn down an entire police station, the CP said the State’s Joint Security Force recovered six IEDs at the Ogbunka insurgents’ camp, stressing that attacks on police stations in the state would have aggravated, if not for the efforts in battling, defeating and incapacitating the hoodlums.
He also revealed that three of the insurgents were killed during the Ogbunka raid, the bodies of whom were later discovered in the same forest few hours after they escaped with bullet wounds during the exchange of gunfire with the police.
He, however, assured of the command’s commitment to sustained security of lives and property in the state and sustenance of the synergy and good-working relationship between the command and the media towards building the safest Anambra State.
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