Mr Ikechukwu Ayodele Aduba who is former Commissioner of Police Delta State, and currently the Chairman of Anambra State Vigilante Supervisory Committee, has warned illegal vigilantes in the state to desist from their operation, that in a bid to control the rising crime been commited by the local vigilante operatives in Anambra State state, government will clampdown on illegal vigilante groups that are not registered in the state.
Aduba reiterated that vigilante as a selfless service-oriented outfit, ought to work under the strict supervision of the police but most of them exceed their bounds, leading to abuses.
According to him:
“This ultimately defeated the purpose for the creation vigilante as society watchdog ,as most for selfish reasons, usurped the duties of the statutorily created outfits and violated human rights. More awful is the unlawful use of illegal and prohibited firearms by the outfits.
“For avoidance of doubt, vigilante outfits are not supposed to bear firearms and their arms are loaded in the police armories when not in use,” he stated.
He further added that “such information and intelligence gathered are to be passed to the police,” and regretted that the most offending group are private guards.
The chairman expressed satisfaction that the concerted efforts of the vigilante outfits and other security operatives, especially the police, have resulted in serious crimes being reduced in the state.
He blamed largely the insecurity of the country on the negligence of police generally, saying that they were nonchalant towards security matters.
According to him:
“The best way to tackle insecurity is to update the whole country with security hardware that would meet up [to the challenge of]the current burning insecurity.”
InlandTown! 2015.
