Police accuse ‘powerful individuals’ in Anambra of freeing arrested cultists, others

Commissioner of Police in Anambra, CP Aderemi Adeoye has accused persons described as ‘influential and powerful’ in the state of securing release of arrested cultists and other criminals from custody and also sabotaging efforts of his command at restoring normalcy.

This is also as the police chief assured that his command is working hard to restore normalcy in the state, adding that such sabotage has resulted in the few security breaches that occurred in the state in recent times, which are the attacks on police stations and the cult-related killings that recently surged in Awka.

Adeoye stated this during his visit to the Anambra NUJ Press Centre in Awka, for the April Congress of the union.

The commissioner, who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department, DCP Akin Fakorede, cited cases of cultists his command arrested, charged to court, got them remanded in prison custody ‘only to find that and some powerful locals are going to the judiciary to lobby to get them released.’

“When those things that have happened over a period of time begin to happen again, the question people should ask is why?

“Could you imagine that the cultists we arrested, charged to court, and got remanded in prison custody that some powerful locals are going to the judiciary to lobby to get them released? And some have been released. And they are the ones unleashing this mayhem again! That is number one.

“Two, you must have heard of the AK-47 we recently recovered from a suspect in Awada. What the suspect told us was that they procured it for him to engage in a showdown with a rival cult group. Now, if that AK-47 was not recovered or had joined the recent cult-related clash, could you imagine what the casualty level would have been?” he said.

The Police Commissioner also revealed that three Beretta pistols were recently recovered from cultists in Ogidi and Ekwulobia within a space of a few hours, which, he said, would have also aggravated the cult-related clash if the police had not recovered them.

He also wondered what people aim to achieve by sabotaging security efforts and sponsoring crimes in society. He, however, reassured that the police would not relent in battling and taking the fight to the criminal elements in the State.

“We are already going after the cultists; and if we find that anybody is subverting justice, or is subverting due process, to get the cultists off the hook, they will face the music, notwithstanding whether the person is in the judiciary or civil populace,” he said.