The youths of Obele Community in Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa State on Monday came out in their hundreds, took to the streets and matched to the Government House over alleged harassment of innocent youths and vigilante officers by men of the ‘A’ Divisional Police headquarters following the death of a notorious criminal known as Richman a. K. a Runtown.
The protest was led by Mr. Ebimo Orlando Geko, Public Relations Officer (P.R.O) Yenagoa Central Security Force, a local vigilante group.
It was alleged that Police Officers attached to the ‘A’ Divisional Police headquarters in the State capital took advantage of the death of the said criminal to indiscriminately arrest youths of Obele community and vigilante officers who are going about their normal businesses.
It was gathered that the said notorious criminal who was terrorizing Yenagoa main town and neighboring communities was reportedly killed by an angry mob when he was caught in one of his nefarious acts.
Speaking to our correspondent during the protest, Geko said the late Richman “had been terrorizing people, raping women. Only for a night, he will break into five houses or shops and move away with people’s valuable items and also forcesleep with any woman he sees in the room both young and old; the worse part of it is that he used to rape them through their anus.
“The security men in Yenagoa main town known as Yenagoa central security force got hold of him sometime ago, tortured him and handed him over to the ‘A’ Divisional of Police headquarters in Yenagoa.
“After two days, they were surprised that such a notorious criminal who had been commiting capital and serious crimes against innocent citizens was released by the police.
He added that Richman continued his act of stealing and dispossessing innocent citizens of their valuables at gunpoint before he was mobbed, adding that members of the Yenagoa Central Security were not part of the angry mob that killed the said criminal and should therefore not be harassed by the police.
Geko said the community youths decided to take to the streets and matched to the government house to put a stop to police brutality towards the vigilante members and youths of the community.
He called on the state government and the Bayelsa state Police Command to prevail on men and officers of the ‘A’ Division to focus on their duty of enforcement of criminal laws in the Yenagoa metropolis.
The P.R.O of Yenagoa central security Force asked the A Division to stop harassing and abusing their vigilante officers and youths of Obele and go for the mob that killed the criminal.
Speaking further, he told Niger Delta Herald that the Yenagoa central security force is a government organized security agency designed to tackle and to curtail every criminal activities in communities of Yenagoa.
“A Bill was passed through the Bayelsa State House of Assembly on Community security; so they are working on that discretion.
“The ‘A’ Division is a division were all criminal activities are reported to by the community security men and handover any criminal caught by them, but today the same ‘A’ Division turned back at them and started arresting them,” he added.
All effort to reach the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Bayelsa state Police Command, Mr Asinim Butswat was not successful as a call put to his cell phone wrang out.
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