By Dele Ogbodo
The Nigeria Police on Monday said its officers involved in the fight against Boko Haram (Those attached to Operation Lafiya Dole)
are not in anyway involved in alleged protest over non payment of special duty allowance, even as it debunked the rumour that its officers protested in Maidurguri.
Making the clarification, the Force said it is true that some officers made enquiries on the delayed special duty allowance but not protest, adding: “The Police Mobile Force personnel that went on the enquiry are not those attached to Operation Lafiya Dole in the fight against insurgency in the North East but those on the category of visiting Police Mobile Force units deployed in Maiduguri on Crime Prevention and other Police duties in the State.
The Nigeria Police Force therefore debunked insinuation making the rounds that its officers in Bornu State are on protest over non payment of special duty allowance.
The Force PRO, Mr. Jimoh Moshood, an Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Police, said the attention of the Force has been drawn to media report that policemen protested in Maiduguri over non-payment of their special duty allowance.
Moshood said: “The Force wish to categorically state that it is not correct that police personnel protested in Maiduguri today, Monday.
“Some of the Police Mobile Force personnel on Special Duty in Maiduguri went to the Borno State Police Command Headquarters on enquiry over the delay in the payment of their special duty allowance in the early hours of today and not on protest as reported in some media.”
According to the Force Spokesperson, the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Ibrahim Idris, promptly directed the Commissioner of Police, Borno State to address and inform them why there is delay in the payment of their special duty allowance.
Moshood stated that the CP also assure them that since the budget has been approved, the allowances will be expeditiously processed and paid without any further delay. They subsequently returned to their duty posts.
The statement further read: “Consequently, the IG has ordered the Commissioner of Police, Police Mobile Force (PMF) to proceed to Maiduguri, Borno State and other States in the North East where PMF personnel are deployed on special duty; to lecture and inform them on the efforts being made by the Force to ensure timely payment of special duty and other allowances to police personnel in the North East of the country.”