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THE Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has called for the immediate removal of the state commissioner of police for alleged abuse of office.
LOKOJA - THE Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has called for the immediate removal of the state commissioner of police for alleged abuse of office.
The call was contained in a communique in Lokoja, at the end of an emergency congress of the council in which it called on the acting Inspector-General of Police to remove the commissioner.
The communique, signed by the secretary of the council, Mr Barth Ademu and three others also advised journalists in the state to commence a total boycott of police activities in the state. It said the action was consequent to the arbitrary arrest and detention of the chairman of the council, Mr Segun Omolehin, by the police on Tuesday.
The communique condemned the police action, saying it amounted to abuse of power, official high handedness, naked intimidation and gross violation of the fundamental rights of the NUJ council chairman.
The congress also noted that the action of the police command had brought the Kogi State NUJ Council to 'great disrepute" through its unlawful arrest, detention and treatment of the chairman of the council ' like a common criminal". While calling for the removal of the commissioner, Mr Bamidele Thomas, the communique said 'his tenure had witnessed an increasing wave of armed robbery".
It would be recalled that Thomas had on Wednesday allegedly ordered the state NUJ chairman to be detained for four hours on the suspicion that he shielded the correspondent of the Vanguard newspapers from police arrest.
Speaking after his release, the council chairman narrated how he was thoroughly beaten by criminals in police cell.