The apex youth organization of the Ijaw ethnic nationality, Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), has criticized the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris for his redeployment of four Commissioners of Police to Bayelsa State within two weeks.
Secretary-General of the IYC, Mr. Alfred Kemepado, said in a statement on Sunday that the action of the Force Headquarters was a surreptitious plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to politicise the security architecture of the state, with the sole aim of causing instability and destabilising Bayelsa State.
He noted that there have been repeated warnings by critical stakeholders in the polity against the politicisation of security, which could cause insecurity in the society.
Kemepado said that, since the transfer of CP Don Awunah to the headquarters, the Police Headquarters had left the state without a state Police Commissioner.
According to him, information at the disposal of the IYC indicated that no police commissioner had taken over from Don Awunah, almost two weeks after his redeployment from the state to Force Headquarters, Abuja.
He said, “The Ijaw Youths Council has observed with concern the frequent and curious deployment of police commissioners to Bayelsa State in the past two weeks.
“At the last count, the Force Headquarters has transferred five police commissioners to Bayelsa State, including the former commissioner, who was moved to the Force Headquarters.
“These are CP Don Awunah, Joseph Mukan, Ahmed Bello, Ahmad Abdulrahman and Austin Iwar.
“While it is the duty of the Force Headquarters to determine the posting of police officers to formations within and outside the country, we find it troubling that, four commissioners of police have been posted to Bayelsa State in the past two weeks.
“We in the IYC, the umbrella body of all Ijaw youths across Nigeria are inclined to believe that, this frequent deployment of police commissioners to Bayelsa might be traceable to political desperation and tendency to cause instability in the state.
“We wish to make it clear that, instability in Bayelsa, the only homogenous Ijaw State in Nigeria, could cause instability across the Niger Delta.
“It is on this note that, we call on the Force Headquarters and the IGP to exercise restraint and resist the plot by desperate politicians to use police authorities to politicize the security in the state.”
