According to the good and law-abiding people of Edo State, the fate of Edo precariously lie in the palms and insolent whims of the embattled Commissioner of Police in Edo State, Gwandu Haliru Abukar. If the Police Chief has his way, peace would be a forgotten feature of the State sooner than anyone could imagine; in abject desperation to perpetuate his lust for power.
The embattled Commissioner of Police in Edo State, Gwandu Haliru Abukar, has been accused of aiding and emboldening the killer Fulani herdsmen, who have been unleashing terror on Edo people across the state.
They decried what they described as “the distressing disquiet” over the series of herdsmen killings in the state without any arrests or prosecution, known to them.
They explained that the fear across the state is palpable with the recent abduction of Mr Andy Ehanire, Osayomore Joseph and a Clergyman, Reverend Father Lawrence Adorolo, who has been released and the brutal killing of Professor Pual Otasowie of the University of Benin as well as the armed robbery incidents under the watch of a grossly inefficient and corrupt police commissioner.
“These Edo people were largely ordinary farmers who were killed by the notorious Fulani herdsmen in their farms while trying to eke out a living,” Osagioduwa Agbonkhai said.
He further said that it was sad that since the last incident that occurred in Oben Community, located in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State, the Edo State Police Commissioner is yet to parade or arrest any Fulani herdsman in connection with the brutal killings that have sent several men and women to their early graves.”
An Edo indigene, Mrs. Lucy Aigbokaevbo, said: “The commissioner of Police is a Northerner, he is shielding his Northern brothers from arrest and prosecution. The herdsmen are everywhere, the policemen know where they are and how they are brought into the state by night in trucks.”
Another Edo indigene, who would not want his name mentioned, said that “with the holiday season around the corner, most of our people abroad, who had planned coming home to visit their parents and relatives are wary now. The apparent subtle and tacit support for the Fulani herdsmen and their acts of terror by the Edo State Police Commissioner, is the only explanation for the ease with which these killers perpetuate their acts of terror without any fear of arrest.”
He disclosed that, it is public knowledge that Haliru Gwandu Abukar held a clandestine meeting with the top hierarchies of several criminal gangs in the state in April this year.
“I challenged the embattled commissioner of police to make public the reason for the meeting, the proceedings of the meeting, the names of attendees and explain why a commissioner of police will be hobnobbing with known criminals,” he said.
As if that was not enough, the police commissioner was accused recently of corruption by the Network of Civil Society Organisations of Nigeria (NOCSON), the umbrella body of all Civil Society Orgnisations in Edo State.
Haliru Abukar, according to investigation, is not any better than his boys he sends out to mount road blocks in order to raise funds. “He compels his subordinates to collect money from armed robbers in their custody besides the monthly kick-backs from the various police stations,” sources said.
Apparently in response to the huge baggage Haliru Abukar carries about, which is capable of smearing the image of the Nigeria Police Force, the Police Service Commission, in their wisdom, redeployed him from Edo State three months ago.
But on receiving the letter, the embattled CP, ran to Abuja to lobby the Police senior hierarchy to stop his redeployment, perhaps worried that the criminal network he had established in Edo State will stop raising cash for him, if he leaves the state.
Not even the effort of the Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki who is the chief security officer of the state, to make the CP honour the transfer letter, has yielded the desired result. Only a police commissioner with the backing of the Inspector General of Police, who himself is fighting the battle of his life with the allegations of sleeping with female police officers and the collection of billions of naira from oil companies unaccounted for, dangling around his neck.
Their actions have stopped the Commissioner of Police, Armament, Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, who was posted to replace him, from assuming work.
On September 1, 2017, the people of Oben Community, a peaceful community in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State woke up to the shocking news of the killing of Mr Efosa Omoregie, a farmer, who was trying to protect his farm from the marauding Fulani herdsmen who invaded his farm with their cattle.
According to the late Omoregie’s widow, her husband got into an argument with the herdsmen in their farm and was shot by the Fulani herdsmen and died. He left behind two wives and twelve children.
Prior to Mr Omoregie’s death, men suspected to be Fulani herdsmen in June, 2017, allegedly raped and beheaded a woman identified as Margaret at Ekpoma, from Esan West local government area of Edo State.
Report said the body of the victim was found by a search party after she failed to return home from the farm.
The story is not any better in Edo North Senatorial District with tales of Serial killings, kidnapping, rape by Fulani herdsmen rampant.
The herdsmen kidnapped a middle-aged man at Uluoke near Oshiomole’s village; killed a former Etsako East Local Government Area council boss, raped some ladies around Ikabigbo and kidnapped three Abuja residents near Okpella, to mention a few.
The Fulani Herdsmen have built make shift settlements in the forests around local communities from where they launch attacks on their host communities.
In Edo Central, the story is the same. Governor Obaseki was in Eko-Ewu in May to commiserate with the families of two women who were raped and murdered by herdsmen.
Speaking on behalf of the deceased family, Mr. Ceril Ikhajigbe from Oko-Ojeme explained what happened to the governor. According to the emotional Ikhajigbe, the victim had gone to the farm in the morning. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting woman, Fulani herdsmen raped her and murdered her.
The concerned Edo people expressed their disaffection for the state of affairs in the state and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to save the state from Abukar and his criminal friends.
Attached are photographs of a protest organised by Concerns Citizens of Edo State against the Edo State Police Commissioner.
