Xmas/New Year: Why we had peaceful celebration in Warri – Delta CP
The Delta State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Zanna, has attributed the peaceful Yuletide celebration in Warri and its environs to the tireless effort of the Nigeria Police and other sister security agencies, just as two G3 rifles dispossessed from two immigration officers in Warri by militants along the Ogbe-Ijoh/Aladja River in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State were handed over to him by the monarch of Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom, HRM, Couple Oromoni, the Pete Ama-Okosu of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri kingdom.
CP Ibrahim, who disclosed this to journalists yesterday at the Palace of the Ogbe-Ijoh traditional ruler, described as unprecedented, the recovery of the weapons which were made possible with the intelligence gathering efforts to the community, and therefore, stressed the need for a working conviviality between the police and communities, maintaining that community policing is the hallmark of every security network in the world today.
Receiving the rifles, Mr. Ibrahim Zanna, while commending the Ogbe-Ijoh peopled, especially the monarch, for his commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflict, appealed to other traditional rulers to emulate the rare feat of the Ogbe-Ijoh monarch most especially at this time of crisis between the Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh communities.
He noted that a community that does not aspire for peace would have kept the weapons and used it to unleash mayhem on their perceived enemies and urged other communities in the state to emulate the commitment of the royal father, describing it as unprecedented.
The Police boss also disclosed that as part of measures towards resolving the crisis, strictly complaint buffer zone areas as specified by the government, in addition to joint police and army check points in the communities and the approval for the establishment of Special Protection Unit (SPU) by the force headquarters in Abuja would soon be put in place.
Earlier in his speech, the traditional ruler of Ogbe-Ijoh kingdom, HRM Couple Oromoni, Pere Ama-Okosu told the visiting CP that when the news of the two missing immigration weapon filtered into the community, he immediately summoned a meeting of his council of chiefs where the decision to send search parties into the community to retrieve the missing weapons were taken, consequent upon which the two G3 rattles were recovered.
According to him, “when we got the news that two immigration weapons had gone missing, our people moved swiftly into action by setting up a high powered intelligence gathering machinery among our men, who with the aid of spies were able to track those behind the act and from there recovered the weapons.”
“As you wall are aware, Ogbe-Ijoh people are peace loving people, who would not allow such allegations of missing military rifles dent our good name and reputation. This was the main reason why we immediately dispatched our people to move out to retrieve these weapons from those responsible for this act of lawlessness on our river.
