The people of Opu- Nembe and surrounding communities on Tuesday staged a solidarity protest in support of the deployment of Police operatives to Opu- Nembe community, Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State with a declaration that the Police should remain in the community to sustain the peace it has restored.
Women, youths and men who gathered at the community town hall and later moved around the community singing , dancing and hugging one another said they are pleased with the peace the Police has been able to restored to the community
Armed with placards with inscriptions such as “ Governor Douye Diri please leave Opu- Nembe alone” “Opu- Nembe is liberated”, “ No more destruction of houses, the people of Opu- Nembe can now sleep peacefully”, “ No more stealing and raping”, “ IGP please don’t pull out the Policemen” “ The people of Oluasiri are delighted that that Opu- Nembe is liberated”, “ FG and IGP thank you for restoring peace to Opu- Nembe, we are grateful”, “ We want the Police to remain in Opu- Nembe”, speakers took turns to commend the Inspector- General of Police( IGP), Kayode Egbetokun for the timely deployment of Police operatives which ended the reign of terror in the community.
Speaking in an interview, Mrs Hannah Gift said she has been out of the community for over one year noting that she was happy to be back since peace has returned to the community. She however urged the Bayelsa State government to cooperate with the Police deployed to the community to sustain the peace.
“I want to thank the IGP for bringing peace to the community. For the past few years we have been suffering in silence due to the reign of terror in the community until the IGP deployed operatives. Please we don’t want the Police to go. They should stay for us. We don’t want Governor Douye Diri to castigate the Police; the Police are here to bring peace.”
Mr Simeon Peter who spoke on behalf of the elders said the IGP deserve commendation for taking the step to deploy professional Police operatives to the community.
“I want on behalf of the elders’ express special gratitude to the Federal Government and the IGP for the deployment of Police operatives that have brought peace to the government. We urged the state government to join hands with the Federal Government to stamp out terror from our community”.
Also speaking Mrs Cecilia Julius who said her husband was killed by a faction of the youth group in the community said the peace that has returned to the community should be sustained.
“The community needs to be safe. The Police should not leave this community because if they leave we are all dead”
Also speaking Madam Pogomatie Otuma commended the Federal Government and the IGP for deploying Police operatives to the community which she admitted has returned peace to the community.
“I thank the Federal Government and the IGP for deploying Police operatives to the community which has brought about peace. We are now safe and we want the Police to remain so that there won’t be any crisis again forcing us to run helter skelter”.
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