Why our formations rejected suspects from Amotekun corps —Oyo Police
The Oyo State Police Command on Tuesday gave reasons why it rejected armed robbery suspects brought to it by the Oyo State Security Network, also known as Amotekun.
The spokesman of the command, Olugbenga Fadeyi qouted the state Commissioner of Police, Nwachukwu Enwonwu in a statement on Tuesday as explaining that it was not true that the police were not cooperating with Amotekun, but had to work in accordance to its jurisdiction sensitivity.
According to the CP, the Amotekun operatives took the suspects to divisions other than where the alleged crime was committed and that they were presented in bad shape.
The CP, who also warned other security agencies in the state to stop treating suspects with high handedness, expressed commitment of the command to work with sister security agencies in the state to reduce crime to the nearest minimum.
The statement read: “The attention of the police command has been drawn to the news making the rounds about the refused admittance of robbery suspects brought into Mokola and Iyaganku divisional detention facilities by Amotekun operatives.
“The message was to create to the public imagery that the police were uncooperative towards jointly combating crime with Amotekun.
“As a disciple in the school of community policing, I have made it clear on many occasions that both organisations are striving towards the same goal of combating crime with adequate development of human and material resources.
“However, a fusion at its early stage could be fractious due to differences in policies and modus operandi, which when carefully evaluated, is the cause of the wrong information.
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“The Nigeria Police Force as an organisation is jurisdiction sensitive and structured in such a way that offences committed in a particular Area of Responsibility (AOR) cannot be treated in another.
“This is done for efficiency and accountability’s sake. The original site of the robbery as gathered by the officers on duty as at the time of the case transfer is Iwo road area under the responsibility of Agodi Division.
Investigation also revealed that no case of armed robbery has been reported in the division or its environ as at or prior to that time; this is a course to look into and to do so, the enforcement of jurisdictional policing must be observed.
“The Amotekun operatives had visited Mokola Division where they were advised by the receiving officers that the Division with the AOR to best handle the case is Iyaganku Division.
“Upon getting to Iyaganku Division, the officers there, after critically analysing the story and taking its origin into consideration, did not reject the suspects, but directed that the suspects be taking to Agodi Division, a directive that was disregarded, which led to the misconception making the rounds.’’
He however warned leaders and men of security operatives within the state to stop treating suspects with antipathy and inflicting serious bodily damages that often times results in death.
According to the CP, some suspects arrested and brought to the station by other security operatives were usually brought in in terrible health conditions and not admissible for detention, leaving the police with no other option than to demand for the treatment of such suspects and after which the suspect could be returned for necessary actions.
Enwonwu also warned that suspects in bad health condition or cases without complainants or witnesses would not be attended to.
