Outrage as Bayelsa security outfit is disbanded

By Isaac Ombe 

Hafiz Ringim

THERE is outrage over the dissolution of Operation Famoutangbei (OFT), a special security outfit established by the government of Bayelsa State about two years ago. The agency handled special security matters before it was disbanded by Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim.
King Joshua Igbagara, the Chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, described the dissolution as “unfortunate”.
He recalled that the outfit’s establishment led to reduction in crime.
“The OFT salvaged lives and property in this state. Before now, people couldn’t go to bed safely; cult killings were rampant. The OFT came to save the state from these odds,” he said.
Igbagara said if the news of the dissolution is true, it will be a minus for the security situation.
“If it is really dissolved, it is a setback in the security apparatus of the state,” noted the traditional ruler.
In Igbagara’s view, “There may have been some complaints against OFT; these problems must have come from people abetting crimes in the state”. 
Special Adviser to Governor Timipre Sylva on Security Matters Chief Richard Kpodoh, who was the caretaker of the outfit, expressed shock at its sudden dissolution. He described the action as politically motivated.
Kpodoh expressed dismay that an outfit established by the state Security Council to save lives and property could unilaterally be dissolved by the Inspector General.
Describing the IG’s action as ill-informed, Kpodoh said Ringim, a former Commissioner of Police in Bayelsa State,  ought to have appreciated the security situation, which informed the establishment of the OFT.
Kpodoh said the OFT had reduced to the barest minimum bag and car snatching, especially around banks in Yenagoa.
“The outfit is just for quick response; it didn’t do stop-and-search. If the Police are doing what they are supposed to do, there will be no need for the OFT.”
Kpodoh also accused politicians of being behind the dissolution. “Those clamouring for the dissolution of the OFT are the politicians who want to bring bad boys into the state to cause problems,” he said, adding: “All the criminals that were chased out are now back.” 
In the security chief’s view, the ban is an injustice against the state when “similar outfits are in other places but not touched”.
“I pity the people because criminals are back, a few weeks after the OFT was dissolved,” Kpodoh added.
Hon. Jonathan Obuebite, a member of the House of Assembly representing Nembe I, said the “the Inspector-General of Police has compromised the security of Bayelsa State.
HE said: “No Bayelsan has come to complain about OFT excesses to me or to the Assembly. OFT has brought sanity. Before now, people could not comfortably move about, people were robbed, but now the OFT has taken care of all these.
“As a member of the state Assembly, I’m in a position to tell the people about it.
“We are totally against the dissolution. The IG was not properly informed about the situation here, he should have looked at both sides of it before taking the decision, which is against the yearnings of the people. We are pleading that he should rescind the decision.”

Hon. Daniel Igali representing Southern Ijaw Constituency 3, plans to raise a motion to condemn the dissolution of the OFT.
“With Operation Famountamgbei, I can open my doors and sleep well, but now that it has been banned, fear of insecurity has returned,” Igali noted.
Igali also said the dissolution has given reason for the need to establish state police.
“These are some of the reasons why some of us are clamouring for state police because of the peculiar situation in the state; we need a special security outfit like OFT to deal with the menace of cult groups,” Igali said.
Comrade Ebikibina Miriki, the National Youth Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) suggested that the government should convene “a stakeholders meeting irrespective of political inclination or class, religion or ethnicity” over the matter.

SOURCE: The Nation Nespaper, 26 September 2011. http://www.thenationonlineng.net