Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun has redeployed Imo Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Barde ahead of the governorship election in the state.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Labour Party (LP) and many Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) had called for the removal of Barde over an assault on the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero.
On November 1, Ajaero was reportedly picked up from the Imo council secretariat of the NLC in Owerri by heavily armed police officers. The NLC president was said to have been beaten and blindfolded immediately after he was arrested by security operatives.
Nevertheless, the Imo police command denied that Ajaero was arrested and brutalised by its officers, rather its officers rescued him from a mob and took him into protective custody.
The IGP, while speaking in a town hall meeting on election security on Sunday, said Barde will be removed as commissioner for the period of the election for the sake of neutrality.
The IGP said, “I am aware that there have been allegations on social media against the Commissioner of Police in Imo State; but for this election, we are changing the commissioner of police in Imo.
“The fact that we are changing him may not be because he has been found guilty of those allegations but for neutrality’s sake, we are changing him for this election.”
