BOLAJI Salami, Ondo State Commissioner of Police says he was at the Government House Saturday night to discharge his duty as a police chief and also to broker peace.
Salami came under public criticism after a video showing him and other police officers preventing Agboola Ajayi, Deputy Governor of the state from moving his property out of the Government House following his defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) surfaced and went viral.
” I only came to the scene when his officers and men at the government house could not broker peace between the aides of the governor and that of the deputy governor over the number of cars the deputy governor would drive out at the time,” Salami said in a statement by Tee-Leo Okoro, Police spokesperson in Ondo on Sunday.
While reacting to the allegation of being partisan in carrying out his duty, Salami said he has never been a politician, adding that his duty remains safeguarding lives and property of the people of Ondo State.
He, however, cautioned that he would not allow the ego and sentiment of any individual to dictate what form of policing style he would deploy in the state.
“Though I vowed to police Ondo State and its people with humility, I will not allow the ego and sentiment of any individual dictate what form of policing style I should use,” Salami said in a statement.
He further stated that the command under his watch would not entertain lawlessness or policing against rules and regulations.
“The Ondo State Commissioner of Police, CP Salami Amidu Bolaji says Ondo Police Command under his policing architecture will never allow lawlessness in the state against laid-down policing rules.”
Reacting to the video which has since gone viral on social media, the Police Commissioner described the video as an attempt to foment sentiment and misunderstanding in the state.
Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned the police against allowing itself to be used to subvert the people’s will.
Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP stated this in a statement he signed in Abuja on Sunday.
Speaking on the encounter between the Deputy Governor and the State Commissioner of Police, Ologbondiyan said the ruling APC is using compromised security agents to save face.
“The thoughtless and rude attempt to use the Police to stop the Ondo Deputy Governor from leaving the disorganised APC is symptomatic of the last kicks of a degraded and derelict political party that is now clutching at straws and can only resort to use of compromised security agents as face-saving measure,” he said.
“The APC is unnerved because Nigerians are no longer ready to stomach the deception and lies of 2015 as well as the impunity, political brigandage and the electoral fraud of 2019.”
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94