PCRC dissociates from petition indicting police in Imo

The Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) has dissociated itself from a widely circulated petition which indicts the Nigeria Police in Imo.

Imo Chairman of the PCRC, Mr Chima Chukwunyere said this while addressing newsmen in Owerri, on Friday.

A petition addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, alleging defilement of women by police personnel has been making the rounds in sections of the media.

Chukwunyere said that the petition, currently being circulated in some sections of the social and conventional media, does not represent the interests of the PCRC.

He said that the writer of the petition, Ogumba Onyeaghala, is not known to the PCRC at the state, national or zonal levels and should therefore not lay claims to membership of the committee in any form whatsoever.

He frowned at the petition, describing it as a deliberate effort to undermine the integrity and good image of the PCRC in Imo, while advising members of the public to take the petition and its content with a pinch of salt.

“We have an already established system that allows any member of the PCRC who has issues with the police to forward their grievances to the PCRC chairman for necessary action.

“The said petitioner has failed to do this, obviously because he is not a member of the PCRC and we therefore dissociate ourselves from him and the petition.

“It is my responsibility to protect members of the PCRC but this manner of fabrication against the police is not in our nature “, Chukwunyere said.

He called for thorough, unbiased investigation into the allegations contained in the petition to determine the substance of the matter and prevent its recurrence, as results of preliminary investigations already countered the claims by the petition.

He however restated the PCRC’s commitment to effective representation of the civil public and ensuring a cordial relationship between the police and the public.

He added that “membership of the PCRC is open to members of the public except ex convicts , cultists and known criminals “.