By: Our Reporter
Ondo State Police Command has lived up to expectations by playing a leading role in the internal security of the state in collaboration with other security agencies during this Yuletide.
The police is working assiduously to ensure security of life and property of the citizenry in the state.
Sources disclosed that the police is now playing a leading role following an alleged voluntary withdrawal of the Army Commander from the state internal security council.
It was gathered that the Army’s representative in the council was said to have made his withdrawal known on Thursday during the Council’s meeting and Police was said to have immediately taken over in coordinating other security chiefs.
A security source confirmed that, “the Army commander (of 32 Artillery Brigade) on Thursday last week walked into the meeting of the heads of security Agencies in the state which he was the chairman said he want to make an announcement that he is no longer be able to chair the meeting nor be part of the meeting again, since the entire state architecture does not recognize the contributions of the Nigerian Army.
“It was said that the meeting is usually rotated among the heads of the security agencies as the Army boss was the chairman of all heads of security agencies before he relinquished his position as the chairman and it automatically came to the Police head as the Chairman as the position automatically now belong to the Nigeria Police commissioner,” the source said.
It would be recalled that soldiers were withdrawn from all military checkpoints on the highways in the state on November 1, 2021.
Spokesman to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),Kennedy Peretei had alleged that soldiers from the 32 Artillery Brigade, Owena Cantonment, Akure were withdrawn from the check points due to refusal of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to pay their allowances.
Though the Army authorities up till now have not made any statement on the development, the state Police Command had deployed its men to all the military check points in the state.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, who is the chairman of the council, Alhaji Jimoh Dojumo, said it was not true that the army chief had withdrawn from Ondo State Security Council.
The governor noted that the Council membership was intact and they extend invitation to all heads of security agencies in the state, including the commander if the brigade.
When asked if the army brigade commander had oulled out from the security council of the state, he said: “It is not true and there’s no evidence to back such claim.
“He(army commander) is still a member of the Ondo State security Council and we have not received any letter from him.
When asked if he has been attending security meetings since the withdrawal from military checkpoints on the highways in the state, Dojumo simply replied “The question should be for him (the Army commander). No meeting we will conduct without inviting him.”
When the spokesman of the Army Command, Captain Ayorinde Omojokun, was contacted on phone to obtain reaction of the Army, he said he would call back but never did. He didn’t reply text message sent to him either on the issue.
