The Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, has ordered the Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Bartholomew Onyeka, to seal up all the 17 Local Government Area secretariats in the State.
In a statement signed by state’s Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Alfred Alabo, the action is to avoid possible threats to lives and properties in the local government councils as a result of leadership tussle following the suspension of elected chairmen and councilors by the state government.
In replacement of the suspended local government leadership, transition management committee chairmen were appointed and inaugurated for the council areas which did not go down well with the elected Chairmen and Councillors.
Having obtained a court injunction restraining the Plateau State Government from tampering with the democratic structures at the local government level pending the hearing of the substantive suit filed by the aggrieved chairmen, the government went ahead to inaugurate the transition management committee which has attracted tension among supporters of both sides.
As a means of maintaining law and order in the state, Police Commissioner, Bartholomew Onyeka has been directed to seal up all the local government council secretariats.
The statement added that the Nigeria Police Force in the state cannot tolerate breakdown of law and order with a warning that the command will not take it lightly with anyone who tries to disrupt the process or causes any confusion around the local government secretariats.
It would be recalled that the Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutfwang, had recently approved the immediate suspension of the 17 local government council chairmen, whose tenure have not elapsed, a development which did not go down well with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State.
However, most of the suspended Council chairmen elected on the platform of APC refused to vacate their offices for the incoming Transition Committees peopled by members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to take over, thereby creating tension in the State.
But, the State Police Command in a statement issued in Jos by its Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Alfred Alabo, said the decision of the Police became necessary as a result of tension around the leadership of the Local Government Areas, and the possible threat that supporters of the sacked Local Government chairmen were posing to critical infrastructure, lives and properties in the State.
