The Nigeria Police Force has asked social media commentator Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, to provide evidence backing allegations he made against police officers during the Nigerian Bar Association conference in Port Harcourt.
Otse made the claims on Tuesday while participating as a panelist at the 66th Annual General Conference of the NBA, where he accused some police personnel of aiding criminal activities through the information they allegedly obtain at checkpoints.
According to the activist, officers stationed along major highways identify travellers and allegedly pass information about some of them to kidnappers and bandits, thereby exposing their targets to abduction and ransom demands.
The allegation has, however, been rejected by the police authorities, who described the claim as serious and demanded that Otse substantiate it.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Ani Iniedu, said personnel deployed to checkpoints and other strategic locations were assigned to prevent crime, detect criminal activities and protect members of the public.
The police spokesperson maintained that officers on such duties regularly confront the same criminal groups allegedly benefiting from the information said to be supplied by police personnel.
The statement read in part, “The Nigeria Police Force hereby invites Mr Martins Vincent Otse to produce, without delay, the evidence upon which he based these serious allegations.”
The Force specifically requested any evidence showing that police officers identify wealthy travellers at checkpoints and subsequently transmit their identities or movements to kidnappers to facilitate their abduction.
It added that any credible information supplied would be treated as a matter of urgency and subjected to thorough investigation.
The police also urged members of the public who have evidence of misconduct by its personnel to report through appropriate channels, rather than relying solely on public allegations, so that necessary action could be taken.
0 Comments