OSPAC NIGERIA SET TO WITHDRAW OPERATIVES FROM IMO AND RIVERS LGAs

By Dr. Helen Chimezie

A security outfit, OSPAC Nigeria may have set mechanisms in motion to withdraw the services of its personnel and operatives from Imo State, following a constant disagreement with the state government over the welfare and shabby treatment meted out to members of the dreaded security outfit currently posted to Imo state.

Investigations revealed that OSPAC Nigeria currently has over 250 operatives serving across the length and breadth of Imo State, which has been wrecked by serial violence unleashed on the state by criminals, colloquially known as unknown gunmen. 

It would be recalled that following the withdrawal of OSPAC operatives from Emohua Local Government Area, some months ago, following some disagreement with the leadership of the Local Government Area (LGA), kidnappers and criminals have made the Emohua/Kalabari road, one of the most dangerous roads in the country, with the kidnapping of commuters, a daily occurrence.

In a chat with media men in his office in Omoku, the commander General of OSPAC, Comrade Kingsley Ogwumike Nonye, disclosed that though it is a painful decision to withdraw its men from troubled zones where their services are most needed, OSPAC Nigeria is also mindful that given the risks its personnel take, they equally deserve the best from the people and communities they serve and protect.

According to the OSPAC Commander General, “I am also calling on every Local Government Area where OSPAC is operating, especially in Rivers State, where OSPAC has contributed immeasurably and positively to the peace and sanity of the communities within the LGA and the entire Local Government, that if you continue to look down on OSPAC, that if you continue to ignore OSPAC, if you continue not to recognize that these are family men, with responsibilities, men who have risked their lives to ensure that the entire communities and LGAs sleep with their two eyes closed, that the service of OSPAC will be withdrawn until when the concerned LGAs, recognize the efforts and services of OSPAC, and start looking into them, not just from the Local Government, but also to the headquarters, where they come from; the services of OSPAC from these areas will be withdrawn.”.

 

On the specific needs and requirements of OSPAC NIGERIA, Comrade Ogwumike Nonye said, “To whom much is expected from, much should be given. they should use their teeth to count their tongue. They should do well.  If they have been trying, their best is not enough. That is the message. To whom much is expected from, much should be given.  I wonder why every time, if anything happens anywhere, what you hear from the masses, “Where is OSPAC?” OSPAC this, OSPAC that, does it mean that there are no other security agencies?

“OSPAC is not a spirit! OSPAC needs vehicles, OSPAC needs so many things to operate maximally. Security cannot work effectively, if it is not properly funded. So you don’t expect us to do more, than what is available. What we want them to do is to improve on their support. Security is everybody’s business and security must be nurtured. If you have peace in a place, this peace is jealously nurtured. That is why I say that we are enjoying relative peace in our areas of operation. What is relative peace? It means that it must be nurtured, for it to be permanent.  Nobody wants to go back to the era of instability.”

In the area of training and other logistical support and the relationship between OSPAC and the State Government, the OSPAC Commander General, disclosed, “I think that if our matter is properly presented before the governor of Rivers State, the governor that I know, Chief Barr. Nyesom Wike, has ears to the ground, he knows, what OSPAC has been doing. He can weigh the scale, but I think that our matters have not been properly presented before him, and we as an organization have not been privileged to meet with him to relate our challenges to him.”