Police battle community over robbery

At the moment, Abia State Police Command and the people of Abala Ibeme Autonomous Community in Obingwa council area of Abia State are at each other’s throat. (Picture left shows Chief Theodore Orji, Abia state governor)

Members of the community are accusing the police of culpability in the burning of houses of prominent citizens in the community, which include that of a serving Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), a superintendent of Police and a serving permanent secretary in the state civil service.

The state police command recently, through it image maker, Okechukwu Ali, accused people of the community of abetting criminals in their activities. The allegation followed a bullion van robbery that took place along Port Harcourt-Enugu expressway.

According to the image-maker, the armed robbers were trailed to the outskirt of the community where a gun duel ensued between them and the police. It would be recalled that police lost four of their patrol vans to fire in that incident. Police, further, claimed that the villagers abetted the criminals to flee the scene and later, out of anger arising from the villagers’ action of looting the criminal’s loot, the criminals revenged by burning the houses of prominent personalities in the community.

But the accounts of the villagers are seriously indicting the police of culpability in the arson. Members of the community, under the auspices of Concerned Citizens of Abala, Ibeme, have pleaded with Abia state government to redress the matter.

Also, the alleged action of the police has been seriously trailed by criticisms by prominent personalities amongst who is Barrister C. C. Emelogu, a human rights and constitutional lawyer. Barrister Emelogu condemns the action in its totality. He also stated that the action of the police is as a result of the malice the police are harboring against the people of the community.

“The action is very, very condemnable. The only problem we have is that the name Abala has become so notorious. And the police are now harboring malice against that name but not against the people because they don’t know the people”, Emelogu stated.
He argued that robbers’ using the road does not provide enough evidence to portray the culpability of the people.

“Now, if there is a robbery incident that may have taken place in Aba or somewhere else, just like the one that took place along Ikot-Ekpene road and there was an encounter between the police and the robbers at one location outside the major road is it logical for somebody, because the encounter took place at that location, that the people of that community are armed robbers or that they abetted the robbery, that is wrong”, Barrister Emelogu reasoned.

The counsel summed his position up this way: “Assuming that there was an encounter between the police and the robbers, is that the reason why the house of prominent Abala people should be destroyed, including a former Deputy Commissioner of Police, who is late, and a serving ACP, and even a permanent Secretary in the State Ministry. So, why must the police go to that extent? Because the robbers shot their people. I believe that is the most condemnable and uncivilized action of the police. In as much as I condemn the robbery, in as much as nobody supports any action of criminality, the action of the police is most condemnable. The police over-reacted”.