The coalition of Arewa Civil Society Organizations (CACSO), on Sunday, called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alkali Usman Baba, to reveal the identities of those behind the gruesome murder of Ahmed Gulak, 8 months ago.
The coalition also demanded the true identity of the Police officers who masked themselves to abduct Chief Uche Nwosu in a Gestapo style from an Anglican Church service in Imo State, in December 2021.
It was reported that Gulak, a former Political Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan and a Chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), was assassinated in Owerri, Imo State capital on 30th May 2021, by “unknown gunmen”.
In a press statement made available to newsman Sunday morning and signed by Dr. Haruna Jagindi and Amb. Danjuma Shetima, on behalf of the coalition; the group said it was important to let the world know “of the actions and inactions of some elements within the police that are constituting themselves as a threat to the citizens of this country”.
They said the murder of Gulak was painful to all Nigerians, especially, Northerners, whose illustrious son he was, adding that the nation needed him now, to “overcome its myriad of challenges”.
“That the true identity of those who assassinated Honourable Ahmed Gulak should be revealed, including their sponsors and their motives, because reports confirm that Gulak was not the only occupant of the vehicle when he was assassinated”, the group said.
On the arrest of the son-in-law of Chief Rochas Okorocha, the statement reads: “the situation in Imo State was further compounded by the Gestapo style of some police officers who invaded an Anglican Church during a service in an acclaimed bid to arrest Chief Uche Nwosu, former governorship aspirant in the state.
“These elements did not just invade the Church, but they did while fully masked up just like the popular unknown gunmen that we have in the state.
These elements had nothing to identify or differentiate them from criminal elements as they were neither in uniform nor having any form or means of identification on them to prove they were security agents as required by operating standards all over the world.
“Eyewitnesses had no other option than to conclude that Chief Uche Nwosu had been kidnapped because they could not point to anything tangible or evidential to identify his abductors as security agents.
“This scenario filtered into mainstream and social media for several hours before a counter statement by Imo State Police Command revealed that what happened in the Anglican Church was not a kidnap but an arrest.
“The long period that it took the Spokesperson of the command to talk to Nigerians especially family, friends and associates of Chief Nwosu on what actually transpired is a pointer to the fact that there is a bridge of professional conduct in his arrest and also the fact that there is a wide communication gap among police hierarchy in Imo State, hence the need for discipline and stringent punitive measures to serve as a deterrent and also rekindle the faith and trust of the citizens in the efforts of the police and our security agencies in tackling the menace of insecurity in Imo State and Nigeria as a whole”.
While demanding that the motive behind his arrest be made public to Nigerians; the group also insisted that “the armed men who invaded the Church be unmasked and adequate sanctions be meted out to them, having engaged themselves or allowed themselves to be used illegally and to break professional ethics as stipulated in The Nigeria Police Act of 2020”.
