Adelani Adepegba, Abuja
The police, Department of State Services and the Army have embarked on a clampdown on illegal security agencies across the country.
The police in a joint operation with the DSS and the military on Tuesday night arrested Dickson Akoh, commandant of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, along with 49 members of his organisation and sealed the corps’ headquarters at Jabi Lake, Abuja.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, while parading the suspects on Wednesday at the Force headquarters, Abuja, stated that a nationwide operation had been launched against illegal security outfits in the country.
He added that the police recovered a proposal for supply of stun guns by the corps, noting that its use of a United Nations approved blue beret for police and military personnel and a flag that looked like the Gambian national flag was an embarrassment to the nation.
The spokesman stated that credible intelligence reports at the disposal of the police revealed that some of the illegal outfits had started acquiring weapons and conducting covert military training in different locations across the country.
He recalled that the Federal Government, in an official gazette in 2013, proscribed various illegal security outfits including the Nigerian Maritime Security Agency, Nigerian Merchant Navy Corps, Nigerian Merchant Navy Petroleum Security and Safety as well as the Peace Corps of Nigeria and other security outfits.
“However, it has been observed that the Nigerian Maritime Security Agency, Peace Corps of Nigeria, Maritime Security Agency and National Task Force to Combat Illegal Importation/Smuggling of Arms and Ammunition, Light and Chemical Weapons are still operating outside their mandates and purposes for which they were registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission,” Moshood said.
The spokesman alleged that the PCN under Akor was registered as a non-governmental organisation “but with brazen impunity, total disregard to the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, opened illegal training camps in some states of the country where thousands of youths and other persons without proper background check and screening are receiving covert military training.”
The police stated that they shot down the PCN training camp in Kwara State based on intelligence reports indicating that terrorist affiliates and subversive elements had infiltrated the PCN secretly to ruin the existing peace being enjoyed in the country.
Moshood stated that preliminary investigation into the activities of the corps showed it was extorting unwary youths throughout the country under the guise of recruitment.
He said, “Anyone who has paid money under any pretence to the Peace Corps of Nigeria should report their case at the nearest police station.
“The Peace Corps of Nigeria has unlawfully turned itself into a security outfit without authorisation and establishment by the Federal Government of Nigeria and, as such, have deviated from the purposes for which they were registered as a Non-Governmental Organisation by the Corporate Affairs Commission.
“The corps has no legal authority to wear uniform, parade itself as security outfit, post its officials on guard duties, and use insignia and badges which are semblances of that of the police, military and other paramilitary organisations, without the approval of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
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