THE Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Commissioner Babaji Sunday has banned the sale and use of all kinds of fireworks, fire-crackers and knockouts in the FCT.
The CP noted that the order was part of a move by the Police to maintain relative peace in the capital city.
The CP said the move had to do with preventing crimes and criminality, particularly the ones peculiar to the end of the year and the Christmas and New Year festivities.
He further noted that the use of knockouts and other fireworks, apart from constituting nuisance and disturbing public peace, was also capable of causing unnecessary fear and apprehension and other dangers associated with its usage in the harmattan period.
In a statement released on Monday, December 6, the commissioner of Police, through the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the FCT command Josephine Adeh, said the CP had ordered all divisional Police officers and heads of units within the FCT to carry out due enforcement of the ban and ensure that anyone who violated the order was arrested and brought to book.
The statement stated that “the use of knockouts, others, aside from constituting nuisance and disturbance of public peace, is also capable of causing unnecessary fear and apprehension and other dangers associated to its usage in the harmattan period.”
The CP used the opportunity to call on parents and guardians within FCT to caution their children and wards to desist from the sales and use of fireworks, firecrackers, knockouts, and others as the ban was in the best interest of them all. He warned persons trading in these banned items to seek alternative but legal ventures, noting that it would not be business as usual in the FCT.
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