Police Protest Over Accommodation in Imo

Policemen yesterday took to the streets of Owerri, the Imo State capital, to protest over accommodation. The protesting policemen said to be operatives of the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) of the Imo State Police Command, started the demonstration on Friday, alleging that they were being asked to leave their quarters on Orlu road by the management of the Federal Medical Center, Owerri.

The officers, who wore face masks to shield their identities, shot sporadically into the air and set bonfires on the high way.

Narrating their ordeal to newsmen, their spokesman, who spoke anonymously said, “we have been pushed out of our quarters and to make things worse, our commander supported the action. No alternative place has been provided for us. We moved into this place in 2015, after our quarters in Nekede, was marked for renovation. But this Base 7 of the CTU of the Nigeria Police Force started operation in this state in 2011.”

The officers said they did not deserve the treatment as they have been doing their best to maintain law and order in the state.

He added, “as we are demonstrating, our families are stranded. Bulldozers are destroying the quarters. Our property, documents, credentials and other personal belongings are outside. We demand better treatment. We are human beings working for the good of this country. We should be treated like human beings not like animals.”

The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Orlando Ikokwu, reacting to the incident, said alternative quarters had been provided for the protesting operatives.

He said the state Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galadanchi, had instructed the CTU commander to ensure that his subordinates settled in the new quarters as quickly as possible, stressing that the protesting cops failed to understand that the quarters from where they were ejected was not a permanent accommodation.