BIZZARE! Detained Akwa Marine Cult leader
Police Inspector lobby Essien Udim Chiefs to visit CP and demand suspects release
…The Akpabio connection
…This institutional corruption at its peak- Presidency
…Tomorrow this same Policeman will rise to become CP, awarded National Honors- Transparency International
The police in Akwa Ibom State are under severe pressure from embattled Senate Minority Leader and alleged sponsor of the dreaded Akwa Marine Cult group in Essien Udim to release the gang leader, Commander Emmanuel Ben who was penultimate Saturday arrested by security agents in Ukana.
Due to pressure from Senator Akpabio, the Akwa Ibom State Police Command denied having the suspect in their custody at Ikot Akpan Abia. Even when the Commissioner of Police on Wednesday held a press conference where he mentioned the names of the different cult groups operating in the state as well as some suspected cultist arrested, Emmanuel Ben’s Akwa Marine was conspicuously missing from the roll call.
That’s not all, to show the bizzare level Akpabio has corrupted the police command, one Inspector Nkereuwem Okpo has called village heads and other traditional chiefs from Midim Atan, Ekpeyong Clan and Essien Udim, ordering them to quickly lead a delegation of Essien Udim chiefs to the Police Commissioner to demand for the immediate release of “their son”, Emmanuel Ben who arrested for alleged theft, rape, murder, assassination and conspiracy to kill among others. To make matters worse and to justify the he money he allegedly received from Akpabio to ensure the suspects release by all means, the police officer threatened to mobilize a police team to Essien Udim to arrest the chiefs if the fail to visit the CP and demand the suspects release.
The threat by the police officer to arrest village heads who fail to be part of the chiefs delegation to the Commissioner of Police at Ikot Akpan Abia has been widely criticized and condemned by many indigenes of Essien Udim and some of his colleague within the police force.
Reacting to the incidence, a furious village head in Essien Udim who pleaded anonymity said it was the height of insult to the Akwa Ibom traditional institution for a police officer who should help enforce the law and demand justice, to be calling chiefs and insisting they come go to the State Police Command to lobby the Police Commissioner to release a suspect.
“I knew there is corruption in the police force but I never could have imagined that a law officer who has a criminal in his custody will rather than ensure that victims gets justice, will have the audacity to be calling village heads and be threatening to arrest them if they don’t visit the CP and demand the suspects release”.
“Can this happen in the North or even in Yoruba land. What level of financial inducement will make a police officer descend this low to put the force in disrepute? This nation I am beginning to think is sick beyond redemption. I won’t be surprised if tomorrow he rises to become a Police Commissioner courtesy of Akpabio’s influence for a job well done and is even recommended to the president for national honours”, he said.
Reacting to the role of the police in the plot to get the suspect released, an official of Transparency International, Dr Funke Adelaja said it was unfortunate that some rogue element within the Akwa Ibom State Police Command has made it practically impossible to rid the state of criminals.
She described the action of Inspector Nkereuwem Okpo as the height of institutional corruption within the police force and promised to ensure the police authority order a probe into the matter in order to get to the bottom of it. She noted with dismay that such actions are capable of eroding public confidence in the police force and called on the Commissioner of Police in the state as well as the Police authority to look into the matter with a view of sanitizing the system to restore public confidence in the force.
08029529401 Inspector Nkereuwem Okpo’s number
