Police to criminals: Surrender illegal arms within three weeks as IGP warns Unit Commanders against violation of withdrawal order

Criminals and persons in possession of illegal arms and dangerous weapons have been ordered to surrender them within three weeks or face the wrath of the law.
Cross River State Police Commissioner, Mr Hafiz Inuwa, who gave the order on Tuesday in Calabar, said this was in line with a directive from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris.
“As directed by the IGP, I am calling on everyone who has any illegal weapons or arms in his/her possession to go to any nearby police station and surrender them.
“We are drawing nearer to the election period and we want to sanitise the society by getting rid of any arm in the hands of individuals.
“We want all arms to be surrendered to the police; both local and foreign made guns,’’ Inuwa said.
He said that failure to follow the instruction after the three weeks ultimatum would qualify anyone that contravenes as criminal.
“Members of the public are by this announcement advised to comply with the directive or face the necessary sanctions,’’ he said.
The Commissioner also called on all vigilante groups within the urban and rural areas to submit their arms to the police.
According to him, police must be aware of the arms they operate with while trying to secure their communities.
The commissioner said that his command would soon deploy an intelligence and strategic team to mob-up arms from all suspected criminals across the state.
“I want to call on members of the public to do a whistle blowing on this because we want to make sure that law abiding citizens are free to go about their normal businesses before, during and after the 2019 polls.
“We will not allow criminally minded individual to be in possession of any dangerous weapon or arm in this state.
“We must do our best to ensure that those with arms do not threaten law-abiding citizens’’, he said.
Meanwhile, the IGP has warned all police Unit Commanders against flouting the order to withdraw personnel from Very Important Personalities (VIPs) as well as  political and public office holders in the country.
Idris on Monday  ordered the withdrawal of  the personnel from  the group of persons which also included   included business entrepreneurs and  those in multinational companies.
Idris gave the warning at a meeting with the Police Mobile Force (PMF), Special Protection Unit (SPU) and Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) Commanders on Tuesday in Abuja.
The police boss said that any commander that violates the order would be heavily sanctioned.
“Sanction awaits any officer who violates the order to withdraw personnel from the above mentioned persons.
“We want to ensure absolute withdrawal of personnel this time around, any violation will be met with stiffer sanction, “he said.
He said that CTU personnel were not meant to be deployed to any individual or organisations because of their critical role in the force.
Idris, who gave Tuesday as deadline for the withdrawal, said that the primary responsibility of the Nigeria Police  was to provide security to all citizens.
“We must face and surmount the security challenges confronting us by all means, “he said.
The police boss described the frequent attacks on police personnel in the course of their duty in the country as alarming.
He, however,  blamed some of the incidents on  police personnel who were  not at alert while on duty.
Idris said that PMF personnel would be deployed to all schools in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa in order to prevent a recurrence of the recent ugly incident at the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe.
He described the incident as a national embarrassment which  must not be allowed to happen again.
“I will be going on tour of the three states to ascertain the level of compliance so far, “he said.
In a related development, Lagos State Police Commissioner, Imohimi Edgal, has ordered squadrons’ leaders, area commanders and  divisional police officers (DPOs) to immediately withdraw all policemen attached to VIPs.
Edgal told newsmen in Lagos that the order was sequel to the directive of Idris on the matter.
According to Edgal, the withdrawal of policemen from the VIPs is long overdue, stressing that all officers attached should be withdrawn without any exception.
He, however, said a review of the matter may see to the replacement of some very important persons security aides by the command.
“The directive is long overdue. There are people not entitled to police orderly but have police following them. I am going to enforce the directive of IGP 100 per cent.
“All Mopol Commanders-(Mopol 2, 20, 22, 43, Anti-Terrorism, SPU) area commanders, divisional police officers (DPOs) and any other unit that had posted men to VIPs should withdraw them immediately.
“All withdrawn officers must be posted back to the Lagos State Police Command,’’ Edgal said.