SECURITY ALERT WITH JIDE

IGP warns against punishing suspects without evidence

Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, has said no suspects should be punished without preponderance of evidence.

Reacting to the release of the Delta State anti-kidnapping squad, DSP Dickson Adeyemi Osamwonyi, at a town hall meeting in Asaba as part of  his official engagement to the state, Abubakar said the officer had been posted out of the state even as investigation was still in progress.

The man was arrested after suspects implicated him in the serial kidnapping in the state.

Temper rose, on Tuesday, at the plenary when members of the state House of Assembly were unanimous in condemning the release of DSP Osamwonyi alleged to have been influenced by the chairman Police Service Commission, DIG Parry Osayande (retd).

In a similar reaction, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan while receiving the IGP, who was on courtesy visit, expressed worry over the release and wanted the police high command to reinvestigate the matter.

The governor said the release of the officer coincided with the upsurge in kidnapping in the state.

Uduaghan had also expressed condolence over the death of  deputy Inspector General of Police, John Haruna and  DIG John Ahmadu (retd), who died in a police helicopter and the recent Dana Air plane crashes respectively.

Addressing the meeting, Abubakar renewed the police management team’s determination to end corruption in the force, restore dignity where law and order were respected by all, adding that road blocks remained banned.

He said 400 students-police were shown the way out of the various police colleges in the country when it was established that their documentations were faked.