The Kwara State Commandant of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, Lukman Yekini, has kicked against the closure of the Corps’ recruitment camp in Offa Local Government Area of the state by the police, describing the action as illegal.
The state’s Commissioner of Police, Olusola Amore, had declared the corps’ camp in Offa illegal and ordered its closure.
The Police boss, who spoke through the Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Ajayi Okasanmi, claimed that there was no information to the effect that a camp would be opened in Offa to train anyone.
But the state commandant of the corps, who spoke exclusively with The Point in Ilorin, said that the action of the police was a flagrant disobedience of a court order. He added that an Abuja High Court in 2014 had restrained the police from disrupting the activities of the corps.
Yekini said that the court in suit number: FCT/ HC/M/1169/2010, ruled that the police had no right to disrupt any of the corps’ programmes or harass any of its men. The officer, who also denied the police commissioner’s claim that his command was not informed about the camp, said that the action was targeted at derailing the progress of the corps.
The state corps commandant claimed that all the security agencies in the state were duly informed about the camp through official letters, which he said, were acknowledged. He said, “The recruitment exercise is legal.
We carried all relevant stakeholders along, including the Nigeria Police Force, Kwara State Command, the Directorate of State Security and others. We wrote to them officially and they acknowledged the receipt of the letter informing them of the recruitment exercise.
“Notable people in the state like the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki; the state governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, traditional rulers, among others, all sponsored candidates to the camp.
Are you telling me this calibre of people will be involved in an illegal scheme? “The excuse of the Kwara State Police Command is not new. They have no right to declare our recruitment illegal.
We wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Police informing him of the exercise and the letter was received. Why would they receive something illegal? The police are actually the one engaging in illegal act here.
“Attempts were made to frustrate the corps, especially by the Nigeria Police and officials of the Department of the State Security, which are aimed at derailing us. And our National Commandant, Dr. Dickson Akoh, who is a dogged goal getter, after so many harassments, went to court on 31 December 2009, suing the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
“On March 26, 2014, we secured a judgment from an Abuja High Court, which clearly stated that the police have no right to disrupt any of our programmes, or harass any of our men and millions of Naira fine was awarded against the police.
