Barring last minute intervention, the Police in Abia state are set to
boycott the council polls slated to hold today, December 21, 2016, in Abia
state.
It was gathered that Divisional Police Officers, DPO, are worried that the
State Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade, is yet to disburse an alleged
10 million Naira fund released by the state government for the election.
A DPO and another ranking Police officer at the state command, who
declined to have his name on print told Pointblanknews.com that the money
was released on Friday 16th December, 2016 to the CP who has continued
telling his men that no money has been released to him for the election.
“We are worried on how the CP always handles the issue of funds. It is
confirmed that the state government has released funds for the election,
but the CP told us nothing has been given to him. The next thing you will
hear is that he has started dishing out peanuts to DPOs. Last time, the
DPOs contributed money for the Edo, Ondo and Rivers state polls. Now since
the state government has released money for the election, why won’t the CP
release it to the DPOs to mobilize the Police rank and file for the
election?”
Recall that the DPOs in the state raised N2.5 million Naira for the Ondo
governorship poll, N2 million for Edo and N600,000 for the Rivers National
and State Assembly election, situation which has caused great discontent
who have been wondering if the Force headquarters doesn’t fund police
election duties.
In a related development, landlord to the Abia State Independent Electoral
Commission (ABSIEC), yesterday, locked the Library Avenue offices of the
electoral agency in Umuahia, over nonpayment of two years rent.
As at 1pm yesterday, ABSIEC authorities told journalists that arrangements
were being made to pay the rent, even as a detachment of Policemen kept
mounted security at the area.