By Dwelleth Morountodun
The Police on Wednesday debunked an online newspaper report that 167 of its officers absconded from the North-east zone over the insurgency war against Boko Haram.
According to a statement signed by Acting DCP, Jimoh Moshood, the Force PRO, he said the 2000 police personnel deployed to the area are in high morale and high spirit in the operation.
No Police personnel absconded as alleged in the report, he said.
The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to a story by Premium Times Online media, captioned “167 police officers abscond from deployment against Boko Haram (full list)”.
He said: “All 2000 Policemen deployed by the Force to the North East have reported and are on ground on combat operation in the North East fighting along with the Military in the front line against Boko Haram insurgency.
“The Force wishes to categorically state that the story is untrue, absolute falsehood and a deliberate attempt to cast aspersions on the efforts of the Nigeria Police Force in the ongoing fight against the Boko Haram insurgency.
“The insinuation in some quarters and as reported in the story that 167 out the 2000 additional police officers recently deployed by the IGP absconded is not correct and should be disregarded by members of the public.
“These 2000 Police personnel are to complement the efforts of the Military to add new impetus to the fight against the decimated Boko Haram insurgency.”
This story according to him was investigated and it was found out not to be correct, there is no reason whatsoever that police personnel deployed for the operations in the North East would abscond.
The Police Mobile Force (PMF) personnel have been engaged actively in the front line along with the military in the fight against Boko Haram terrorist group since the inception of the insurgency, he said.