Students in Ogun State have cried out to the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, asking him to restructure the leadership of the Ogun State Police command to stop the alleged incessant killing of innocent souls.
The students under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Ogun JCC and the National Association of Ogun State Students, in a statement jointly signed by their respective leaders, Tomiwa Bamgbose and Gbemileke Ogunrombi, on Sunday, lamented that the police in the state have been acting unprofessionally lately.
DAILY POST reports that their appeal to Adamu was a result of a footballer, Kazeem Tiyamiyu, who residents of Sagamu alleged was killed yesterday by the police.
The students’ leaders said: “We find it disturbing to read the statement credited to the PPRO, Ogun State Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, rationalising the murder of one of our youths in Ogun State and we must confess that this constitutes serious embarrassment to us as a people.”
According to them, policing was meant to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.
However, they alleged that “it is so disgraceful to note that under the present dispensation (of CP Kenneth Ebrimson), our best and brightest people are being killed willfully by men of the Nigeria Police Force and this is a major source of concern for us as an association.”
The statement reads inter alia:
“In Ogun State alone, the level of unprofessionalism being displayed is a source of concern for us and it constitutes serious threat for our continued existence as citizens. In the past week, we have lost too numerous a people to account for.
“On Wednesday, 19th of February, the men of the Nigeria Police Force, Ogun State Command, drove against traffic, which led to the death of over five persons, including secondary school students in Obada area of the state.
“As if that was not enough, the police, all in the name of chasing guys suspected of being into internet fraud, shot three Hausa traders at the popular Olomore Market. And on Saturday, 22 February, a promising young guy was also shot dead at Sagamu.
“More alarming and disturbing is the unprofessional and unethical standard being exhibited by the Ogun State Police Command as well as the PPRO; and the non-challant manner in which the Police Commissioner is handling issues that pertains to security in the state.
“We use this medium to pass a vote of no confidence on the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force, Ogun State Command and we call on the Inspector General of Police, to as a matter of urgency and necessity, restructure the Ogun state Command for the sake of peace and sanity.
“The activities of the police, since the arrival of CP Kenneth Ebrimson, are highly condemnable and as well call for anarchy.”