After THE WHISTLER Report, Police Explain Suspension Of Escorts For Governors, VIPs

The Delta State Police Command said its recent wireless message which cautioned officers against travelling with state governors, senators and other VIPs to all states of the South East and Rivers State was “misconstrued”.

THE WHISTLER had exclusively reported on Tuesday that the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ari Ali, issued a wireless signal which ordered the immediate suspension of police escorts for politicians and other prominent persons in the South East region and Rivers.

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A senior police officer had confirmed the development to our correspondent, saying it was necessitated by incessant attacks on officers and police formations in the region by alleged members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its paramilitary wing known as the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

The report sparked social media reactions hours after THE WHISTLER broke the news. Some news mediums had subsequently reported outright withdrawal of security aides attached to politicians in the region.

But in a statement sent via WhatsApp to our correspondent on Thursday, acting spokesperson for the Delta State police command, DSP Bright Edafe, said the wireless signal was self-explanatory, adding that the command did not withdraw police escorts from VIPS in the region.

Edafe said the directive was, “meant as a guide for the officers and men of the department engaged in escort duties to always be at alert and not as misquoted or misconstrued.”

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He said the signal, “was only a step to guide the concerned officers on the need to be extra vigilant and ensure the safety of their lives and that of their principals against the backdrop of killings of Policemen and not to withdraw them…”

Our earlier report quoted CP Ali as directing the CSO Government House, among others, to “warn personnel that escorts of their principals to the six (6) eastern states is suspended forthwith until security situation improves.”

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