Ekiti kidnap: Falana asks IG to transfer police officers

Mr. Femi Falana

A human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has asked the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to transfer some police officers from Ekiti State for collaborating with kidnappers who are behind the recent wave of abduction in the state.

In his letter dated May 19, 2015 addressed to Arase, Falana commended the IGP for dispatching crack team to the state in response to the call for intervention by the state’s governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.

Falana, however, said the current atmosphere of impunity in the state was aiding the rampant cases of kidnap in the state.

The letter read in part, “In the atmosphere of impunity which obtains in Ekiti State, armed thugs have been operating with the connivance of the state government. The police and the Department of State Service have been officially restrained from arresting the criminal elements.

“In the circumstance, they have unleashed mindless violence on innocent people. The criminal gang has since been joined by kidnap suspects who escaped from the Lokoja Prisons. Hence, the wave of kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes have reached an alarming proportion in Ekiti State.

“While commending you for drafting a special crack team to Ekiti State headed by a new Commissioner of Police, you ought to transfer some of the police officers in the Ekiti State police command for allegedly collaborating with some of the criminal gangs.

“And to ensure that criminal suspects who are arrested by the police are promptly charged to court, you should impress it on the Ekiti State government to enter into negotiations with the striking judicial workers with a view to reopening the courts without any further delay.”

Falana also blamed the successive administrations in the state from the government of Segun Oni, the first term of Fayose in office and the immediate past administration of Dr. Kayode Fayemi for the political killings that had taken place under their watch.

The letter further read, “During the first term of Governor Ayo Fayose (2003-2006) there were politically motivated killings in Ekiti State. In several reports compiled by the police and the DSS the killings were traced to a killer squad funded by the Ekiti State government.”