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AWKA- The Police Command in Anambra has cautioned against some human rights activists using media publications and videos to incite residents against government agencies in the State.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, SP Tochukwu Ikenga disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Awka.
Ikenga urged the residents to resist such action and disassociate themselves from any act that threatens public peace.
According to the statement, the Anambra Police Command wishes to alert residents to be aware of some individuals who engage in discussions about the state on social media under the guise of human rights activists, to incite the public against government agencies, the police, and other security agencies.
He explained that the warning followed a trending video of one Mr Martins Otse, popularly known as Verydarkman which the Command intercepted on May 24.
The Police Spokesperson said that in the video, Otse was threatening to lead a protest against the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in the state over the agency’s recent clampdown on dealers of substandard drugs in Onitsha drugs market.
“The Command while noting that the action of NAFDAC was in line with the Federal Government’s directives to conduct a raid operation to remove unregistered, expired, banned drugs, substandard, falsified, and illicit narcotics and controlled substances from the three major open drug markets in the country.
”Anambra state happens to be one of the states where the enforcement took place.
Meanwhile, the Command has taken necessary steps to escalate the complaints of the traders for the agency’s necessary action,” he said.
He said that further discussion by the Command and the leadership of the market revealed that the alleged action of Verydarkman was motivated by some persons in the market.
“The leadership of the market has distanced themselves from such and pledged to work with the relevant agencies to identify the defaulters among them,” he said.
The police spokesperson also said that the Command was still waiting for Mr Harrison Gwamnishu to honour the command’s invitation to provide answers on how five persons on transit through the state went missing recently, while seeking for hotel accommodation.
He said that the Command also intercepted another trending broadcast by the same Gwamnishu allegedly exposing an illegal detention facility allegedly operated by the state vigilante group.
According to Ikenga, in as much the video is not a recent development, the Police Command has since addressed the unprofessional conduct of these security operatives after assisting the security agencies in apprehending suspects and keeping them in their offices without transferring them to the nearest police facility.
The Command has already emplaced measures to ensure that such does not happen again.
Given the above, the Command observed that Otse and Gwamnishu ignored every necessary channel including reaching out to the Commissioner of Police, and the Command’s PPRO to lay complaints of any kind.
The police spokesperson noted that the pattern of their action shows that it was a deliberate move to make the public fault the efforts of the police and other security agencies on the relative calm and enhanced safety the state has been experiencing.
“Their actions, were no doubt aimed to bringing reproach on the enthusiasm and commitment of residents of Anambra to collaborate with the security agencies to fish out the bad eggs in the state.
“To this end, the police command after a critical threat analysis based on the information and intelligence reports of these individuals’ actions to cause tension in the state, as the intended protest could be hijacked by criminals to wreak havoc,” he said.
He assured residents that the Command shall continue to live up to its mandate of ensuring that no person or group of persons would be allowed to infringe on the fundamental human rights of others, especially the rights to freedom of movement and the dignity of human persons. (NAN)
