• It’s not true – Police
200 operatives of the Police Mobile Force (PMF), otherwise known as MOPOL, undergoing training at the Special Forces School (SFS), Buni-Yadi, Yobe State have absconded for fear of being killed by the Boko Haram terrorists. They left Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, on Sunday, December 23, at exactly 2 pm saying that they won’t want to die like soldiers.
The policemen made up their minds to abandon the operations after the military authorities running the school announced to them that they were changing their uniforms from the MOPOL colour to the woodland camouflage, which is the official uniform for personnel engaged in the counter-insurgency operations.
It was gathered that the policemen became terribly afraid upon hearing the news and made up their minds to abscond. The MOPOL personnel was said to be among the 2,000 officers deployed on December 2, to join in the ongoing counterinsurgency war in the North East.
The police force headquarters had on December 2, announced the deployment of additional 2000 Police Mobile Force (PMF) and Counter Terrorism Units (CTU) personnel of the Force and the Sniffer Dog Sections to the North East for purely military duties to fight Boko Haram insurgency under the Operation Lafiya Dole.
A senior police officer in Yobe told our reporter on telephone: “I am calling to inform you that that MOPOL personnel who were trained at Special Forces School Buni-Yadi, when they were told that they would be deployed to Maiduguri and Yobe here after their training, said they are not going anywhere.
“They say they were going home. As I am speaking to you now, they are all at the junction saying they are going back to their villages and all of them are armed with their rifles. They say they will not go to Maiduguri because they are not soldiers and that they will not allow anybody to take them to places where they would go and die for nothing.
“All of them are at the roundabout here in Yobe with their baggage. They said they don’t have any business with fighting Boko Haram; they said they are going to their village.
“If I had my way now, I would have taken their photographs and send to you through WhatsApp but, unfortunately, I cannot. If you see them their eyes are so very red that they may attack anybody who tries to take their pictures.
“I was even asking one of my tribe’s men what he was going to do with the rifle since it was service rifle and he told me that is none of his business. He said that he was going with it to his village.
“There is one of the officers we served together in Potiskum, that I was chatting with and he got angry when I tried to persuade him to stay, and he refused to talk to me again. He said, so I want him to go and die.
“Police are not human beings, it is unfortunate. They say if the IGP does not know what he is doing he should resign. So, what do they think that they took them to Bunmi-Yadi Special Forces School training for?
“I am surprised because what they told me was that they had briefed them that they were going to be deployed within the metropolis and take the soldiers into the bush. They were thinking that they would remain in Maiduguri town; they are not serious.
“Some of those places that we have cleared, are they not supposed to have taken over those places? They want us to be doing everything, what is their own work?”
Meanwhile, the police force headquarters has denied a media report that 167 personnel deployed to the North East to join in the counter-insurgency operations have absconded. It described the list of 167 names attached to the report as fake, saying all the 2,000 additional police personnel are on the ground in the North East.
Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, who made this known in a statement, said: “The Force wishes to categorically state that the story is untrue, absolute falsehood and a deliberate attempt to cast aspersions on the efforts of the Nigeria Police Force in the ongoing fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.
“The insinuation in some quarters and as reported in the story that 167 out the 2000 additional police officers recently deployed by the IGP absconded is not correct and should be disregarded by members of the public. These 2000 police personnel are to complement the efforts of the military to add new impetus to the fight against the decimated Boko Haram insurgency.
“This story was investigated and it was found out not to be correct. There is no reason whatsoever that police personnel deployed for the operations in the North East would abscond. The Police Mobile Force (PMF) personnel have been engaged actively in the front line along with the military in the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist group since the inception of the insurgency.
“These 2000 police officers recently deployed are in addition to several thousands of police personnel already engaged in the fight against the insurgency with the military in the North East. The list of 167 names attached to the story is fake as the officers mentioned are on the ground in the North East.
“The 2000 police personnel deployed are in high morale and high spirit in the operation, the Force sees the story as a deliberate attempt to promote insurgency and damp the morale of officers and men of the police and other services who on daily basis lay down their lives to protect our dear nation, Nigeria, and ensure security of all citizenry.
“Members of the public are, hereby, implored to disregard the story in its entirety as pure misinformation and hearsay. It is evidently clear that the writer of the story has never visited the venue of training or witness the deployment of the police personnel in the operation but rely ignorantly on hearsay from misguided individuals who are being used to work against national interest and security.
“The Nigeria Police Force will continue to hold the media in very high regard as a veritable partner in ensuring adequate security and success of the fight against the insurgency. However, the media are implored not to allow their esteemed publication to be used to publish falsehood capable of misinforming and misleading the public.”
