Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Nigerian Police Threaten Strike Over Transfer, Others

Policemen threaten strike over transfer, others

THURSDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2013 00:00 CHARLES OGUGBUAJA
Nigerian Guardian

THE inspectors and rank and file of the Nigeria Police have threatened to go on strike in November if their demands are not addressed.

Briefing The Guardian in Owerri, Imo State capital, Wednesday after rising from a crucial meeting in an undisclosed venue in Benin City, Edo State capital, some delegates of the officers said if all the requests they agitated for are not addressed by the police authorities, a date, not disclosed, next month, they would proceed on an indefinite strike.

They added that they would have begun the action this October, but for the Muslim celebration of Eid-el- Kabir.

Listed among their demands is reversion of the recent mass transfer of officers, numbering about 100 from the cadre of Inspectors, Assistant Superintendent of Police and the Chief Superintendent of Police to the troubled areas in the far North for what they called “political reasons” allegedly masterminded by the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Muhammad Musa Katsina.

They also alleged that some inspectors had spent about eight years and 30 years without promotion, a situation they regarded as “Monkey de work, Baboon de chop”, saying that they were tired of the suffering.

According to them, the strike would be likened to the type that took place some years ago.

One of the aggrieved officers said: “Since the Presidency, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mr. Mike Okiro; the Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade and Inspector General of Police, Abubakar Mohammed, refused to listen to us, we are going to fight for ourselves by resolving to embark on strike in November”.

They said the mass transfer of the officers from Imo has left the state porous, resulting in armed robbers and other criminals attacking their members in the state with ease.

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