IPoB | Police denies alleged attack on residence of Abia Commissioner of Police
The Commissioner of Police in Abia State, Mr Leye Oyebade, has been transferred. He is now the Commissioner of Police, Railway Lagos.
Oyebade is succeeded by Mr Anthony Michael Ogbizi, who has since assumed duty.
While handing over to Ogbizi on Thursday at the Police Headquarters, Umuahia, Oyebade said that the command under his watch recorded tremendous success and wished his successor well.
It was not yet clear why the CP was transferred but sources say it might not be unconnected with the recent escape of some suspects from police detention at the headquarters.
The command had already dismissed six personnel as a result of the escape.
When journalists confronted him over the alleged attack on his official residence by the members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Oyebade declined to comment on the issue.
The CP’s official home is close to the home of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in Afaraukwu Umuahia.
But a police source explained that some members of IPOB had trooped to the CP’s house to protest the alleged killing of two of their members by soldiers along Bank Road, Umuahia on Thursday morning.
According to the source, the irate crowd only came to register their grievances over the casualty they recorded.
The source said that the situation was quickly brought under control as the angry IPOB members retreated after the CP had calmed them.
Corroborating the police source, IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary Emma Powerful, dissociated IPOB from any attack on the CP’s residence.
Powerful explained that it was the people who were pained by the killing of the IPOB members by soldiers that went to the CP’s house which was around the area to protest the dastardly act.
He argued that if IPOB had wanted to attack the CP it would have long done so, asking rhetorically, “As a non-violent movement with what do we attack?”
Meanwhile, the new CP, Mr Ogbizi expressed concern over the tensed security situation in the state and warned residents to avoid any act capable of worsening the situation.
He promised to ensure the security of lives and property of residents and solicited the cooperation of members of the public to enable him to succeed.
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