Operatives of Police mopol force on special duty in Maiduguri have continued to live in starvation, frustration and neglection over unpaid allowances by the federal government.
WITHIN NIGERIA assembled that operatives of Police mopol force on special duty are also planning to storm the streets on Monday to express their grievances over the unpaid allowances.
This is coming days after police officers mounted barricade on roads to protest the unpaid allowances at Batsari Local Government, Katsina State.
WITHIN NIGERIA culled from Kadunapost that the barriacades were removed by soldiers when they got to the scene and this provoked the police, causing an exchange of verbal abuses before the intervention of the district head of Batsari, Alhaji Tukur Muazu Rumah.
Speaking on the development, a resident of the community identified as Muhammad Wada Bakiyawa stated that “Yes, I am an eyewitness, they block our way when going for Batsari weekly markets, claiming that we won’t have a business today because the government has not paid them their allowances for six months.
Similarly, the tales of operatives of police mopol force in Maiduguri are not different as officers have continued to agitate for the payment of their unpaid allowances.
In a telephone interview with WITHIN NIGERIA, the police inspector, a resident of Maiduguri who prefers to be anonymous bitterly narrated what mobile police officers have gone through as a result of unpaid allowances.
Lamenting the poor and deplorable situation of things, the police inspector told WITHIN NIGERIA that police officers have no access to food, clean and drinkable water and no allowance for seven months.
The police inspector also disclosed that some police officers have lost their lives as a result of frustration while some officers have lost their morale to fight criminals.
When asked if only mobile officers in Maiduguri have not been paid their allowances, the police inspector said it affects mobile officers in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
They owe us 7 months allowances. Infact, they normally feed us twice in a day, later reduced to one per day but now they no longer feed us. They feed police officers working alongside with soldiers two times per day and also give them stipends but they have neglected mobile police officers in the state, he added.
When asked if they had taken any step to ensure the payment of their allowances, he told WITHIN NIGERIA that they have called for a general meeting where they resolved to protest, appeal to government to come to their rescue and to ask if it is the federal government owing them or their senior officers in the force.
The police inspector further disclosed that they were asked to stop the protest lastweek with a promise that atleast four months out of the seven months unpaid allowances will be resolved.
Today is Friday. They have not spoken to us and we have not received any alert. Infact, we still do not know what is happening because they have refused to speak to us, he added.
The police inspector revealed that the mobile officers have resolved to storm the streets on Monday to show their grievances if there is no positive development till Monday.
They are threatening us with arrest and dismissal. They vowed to arrest and dismiss mobile officers who join the protest or if they go on strike action, he told WITHIN NIGERIA.
People we met to discuss our grievances with and vowed to pay four months out of seven months are not government officials but senior officers. They told us to hold on with our protest because they are working on it, he added.
Both our unit commander and the commissioner for police in Borno are aware of our predicament and they have done nothing to address it. Who is withholding our allowances? Is it the federal government or our senior officers? We are working together with soldiers and they have been paid. So why haven’t we being paid for months? he bitterely asked.
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