* says SARS disbandment hampering police operations
By Chesa Chesa
Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alkali Usman Baba, on Thursday announced that some of the sponsors/financiers of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its Eastern Security Network (ESN) have been apprehended and detained by the police.
Speaking at a press briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team in Abuja, the Police chief lamented that those financing that had been difficult similarly arresting those funding the group from overseas.
Nonetheless, those already in police custody are undergoing further investigations preparatory to arraigning them in court, Baba disclosed.
He stressed that the police had recorded successes against secessionists and suspected criminals in the Southeast, but that the ongoing strike by judiciary workers in the country is delaying the prosecution of suspects in custody.
Baba also said that the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) has created a vacuum in the effort of the Nigeria Police to more efficiently tackle insecurity in the country, especially as its replacement, SWAT, is yet to fully take off.
He explained that the regular policemen and women have not been able to immediately fill the vacuum created by the SARS disbandment even though he said efforts were ongoing to train them for the new role.
The acting IGP said further stated that the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest had dampened the morale of the police personnel in the country.
On the plan to recruit 10,000 new police personnel, he revealed that the process has reached 70 percent completion, even as he assured the public that the exercise would follow the Federal Character principle.
Baba added that the parading of suspects by the police was a way of blowing the trumpet of the force and updating the public on the efforts to curb criminality, noting that “if we don’t do that, nobody will do it for us”.
