~Urges him to set up monitoring task force to ensure compliance
A Leading Pro-democracy group in Kwara state, Kwara Must Change has commended the Kwara State police commissioner for taking proactive step to curtail extortion on high ways in the state.
The group also said that the order of the police commissioner that any officer caught extorting citizens with arms will be treated as armed robbery is a right step in the right direction, which if pursued to the latter will earn police much praise.
In a statement by Kwara Must Change convener, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, the group explained that, the instruction by the police commissioner is heart lifting, noting that it would go a long way to reinforce the determination of police to eradicate unnecessary harrasement and extortion of the populace on the high ways.
It should be recalled that, Kwara Must Change had expressed concerns over the rate of public harrasement and extortion taking place on Kwara high ways. It called on police commissioner to take appropriate action to end the menace.
However, the police commissioner issued a firm order to its officers, promising to treat armed extortion as armed robbery.
While the state command expressed disappointment with Kwara Must Change’s earlier statement, which it said is demoralizing, it vowed that any of its men found guilty of extortion would henceforth be charged with armed robbery.
Kwara Must Change on the other maintained that, the essence of its earlier statement was not to demoralize the police, but to call its attention to the danger of what is happening on the high way, which many of its members have experienced first hand.
The group said, should the commissioner doubt the credibility of its earlier position, a simple tour of the high ways, through commercial vehicle will convince him otherwise.
Hamzat therefore commended the police commissioner for his proactive response and urged him to set up a monitoring task force to regularly go through the high ways to ensure compliance.
