Wives and children of MOPOL 22 officers posted to Beri in Mariga Local Government Area, Niger State on special duty protested for hours calling for safe return of their husbands.
The protest took place at the Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday.
The women stormed the Lagos State Police Command with various placards stating “CP Lagos State, please look into our matter to call MOPOL 22 Commander to order, CP please release our husband from Niger State after one year of special duty, MOPOL 22 Commander, bring our father, MOPOL 22 Commander, bring our father please on Special duty of three months turning to one year special duty, Haba.”
They added that their husbands have overstayed their posting on Special Duty.
Speaking on the development, Mrs. Blessing Babagbemi who led the protesters (women) said their husbands have been on special duty since February 2021 and till date, they are yet to return home.
According to her, the posting is usually for 3 months and at most 4 months, adding that one of the 31 mobile officers sent to Beri has been killed and another was injured when bandits numbering about 900 stormed Beri with motorbikes armed with sophisticated and superior weapons.
The leader of the protest said the bandits took away food items, uniforms and other personal effects, leaving the entire team in a very difficult situation.
Lamenting the situations, Babagbemi said, “The first attack was in May 31, 2021, and the second attack was on 16 of January 2022. “The bandit packed all their properties, uniforms, drugs, and food and since then they have been abandoned without food and to survive on their own.
“After the first attack our husbands saved money and bought things, but the bandits came back again and took everything away.”
She explained that she and her colleagues are barely managing to survive with some of their children out of school.
“Our children are missing their fathers, and besides we are humans. We need our husbands back home.”
“We expected that our husbands will be back in December, but we did not see them. Last three weeks, we went to Oduduwa to see MOPOL 22 Commander, AC Bright Ibiye. We did not see him, they called the provost out for us, we told him, we are wives of policemen sent on special duty. We told him we want our husbands to be released.
“The provost promised that our husband will be back latest January ending or first week of February, the assurance gave us peace of mind, we left but on our way going back home, the provost said the Commander wants to see us. We saw the commander and he tabled our issue that he is going to Abuja right away and will table our case and use our video he recorded as evidence at Abuja and that we will hear from them.
“So he gave us two bags of rice and N10,000 and which we shared. But up till now, we have not heard anything from them hence we are here to protest at the police command due to lack of feedback,” CASEFILE gathered.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, CSP. Adekunle Ajisebutu said he is not aware of the protest but that there is no specific duration for policemen posted on special duty.
He also directed that the Force PPRO Abuja could be contacted for more information.
