Rivers State Police Command has set up a panel to investigate a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who is alleged to own an illegal refinery in Rivers State.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Rivers Police, in a statement made available on Sunday by the Acting State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Grace Iringe-Koko, said the unnamed DPO has been “immediately redeployed and a panel headed by an assistant commissioner of police inaugurated to investigate the matter”
The Force noted that “the outcome shall be made public and the officer punished appropriately if the allegations are confirmed.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police CP Eboka Friday reiterated the commitment of the command to support the state government in its war against illegal oil bunkering and assured the public that the command will not spare any indicted person no matter how highly placed he or she may be.
He also called on anyone with useful information not to hesitate in passing it to the security Agencies or the Local Government chairmen.
Last week, the State Governor, Nyesom Wike raised an alarm and demanded that the DPO, who was in charge of a division in a community called Rumuji in the Emohua Local Government Area, be redeployed.
Governor Wike also demanded the immediate redeployment of the head of the anti-vandal unit of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for providing cover to illegal refiners.
The Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ahmed Audi, while responding to the allegation, announced the disbandment of the Rivers State anti-vandal unit of the NSCDC.
The Commandant-General also ordered the suspension of the head of the team pending the outcome of an independent enquiry into the allegations.
The Director of Public Relations, NSCDC, Olusola Odumosu in a statement on Saturday, said Audi expressed shock and dismay over the allegations.
He decried the allegations as not being in tandem with his vision for the corps, stressing that he would not condone any criminal act or compromise by the personnel.
