Abuja Traders’ Association has asked the Inspector General of Police, IG, Alkali Usman, to order the arrest and prosecution of 30 policemen used by Urban Shelter Limited to supervise alleged illegal demolition of structures at an Abuja shopping complex.
The association also drew the attention of the police chief to the arrest, intimidation and harassment of its executive officers by operatives acting on the instruction of the company.
The traders made the allegations in a petition to the IG dated April 28, through their counsel, Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume, SAN.
Ume, who gave detail background of how the company, in flagrant disobedience to a subsisting court order, mobilised the officers, tagged as fake, to give protection to the demolition of the structures at UTC, Area 7, urged the IG to intervene.
“The said policemen arrived at the UTC, Area 7 Shopping Complex at about 5am on April 4, and gave a fake police protection to the illegal demolition team organised by Urban Shelter, in its efforts to demolish the complex.
“The fact is that this illegal demolition, done on the complex and its environs that day, was done by the illegal demolition team recruited by Urban Shelter and Abuja Metropolitan Management Council is axiomatic,” the petition read in part.
The lawyer called on the police boss not to allow the Force to be used as a tool for promoting selfish interest of an agent provocateur.
He drew the attention of the IG to the relevant provisions of the Police Act and the 1999 Constitution, aimed at protecting the society from acts of criminality; securing lives and property of citizens; apprehending offenders, and preserving law and order.
“It is wrong for the Nigeria Police Force to lend itself as a tool for disobedience of court orders and manipulations by selfish persons.”
“It is therefore demanding on your office to immediately take measures to prosecute the 30 persons impersonating your officers and those who aided them, that is Urban Shelter, as well as ensure that the officers of the Traders’ Association are not harassed,” Ume said.