Barely one week to the November 11 off-season elections, Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has vowed to redeploy Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Barde, over alleged partisanship.
Egbetokun stated this a few days after the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, the Labour Party, and Civil Society Organisations demanded Barde’s redeployment from Imo State.
The IGP disclosed his intention to redeploy the Imo police commissioner while speaking on Sunday night on a Channels Television programme with the theme: “Peoples Town Hall On Election Security.”
According to Egbetokun, “We are aware that there are allegations against the Commissioner of Police in Imo. Before the elections, we’re changing the CP. This is not to say the CP has been found guilty. But for neutrality sake, we are changing the Commissioner of Police in Imo State.”
Following the attack on the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, the Imo State capital last Thursday, the organised labour had issued a five-day ultimatum for the redeployment of the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Barde.
Meanwhile, Labour Party had also expressed its support for demands for the immediate redeployment of the police commissioner and other officials allegedly involved in the recent attack on Ajaero in the state.
The NLC President was attacked and brutalised in Owerri, on Wednesday last week, while he was mobilising workers for a protest over their unpaid salaries.
Following the widespread outrage that greeted the incident, the NLC and the TUC had accused the Imo police commissioner of complicity in the attack, threatening a five-day ultimatum for the Federal Government to replace him.
