Arms surrender in Bayelsa

Police in Bayelsa State on Wednesday in Yenagoa received arms and ammunition from 32 ex-militant leaders who said they were forced to submit the arms when they saw the genuineness of the on-going amnesty deal.

The arms included 428 guns of various calibers including AK 47, FMC and locally made pistols, two improvised explosive devices, axes, locally made rocket launcher, cartridges, cutlasses, submachine gun pellets, army uniforms and gun belts.

Aliyu Musa, the state police commissioner told newsmen said that although the period of submission of arms was over, he agreed to receive the arms as it was “not good to shun them and drive them away because amnesty is over.”

Musa explained that the arms and ammunition could be used to perpetrate violence particularly during the forthcoming elections and destroy the prevailing peaceful atmosphere stressing that prevention is better than cure.

He said the submission of arms was as a result of his appeal in a meeting with ex-militant leaders in the state not to allow themselves to be used as thugs during the elections to which they agreed that they would not be involved in electoral violence and thuggery.

Speaking on the elections, the police commissioner said 3,391 police officers wearing tags would be dispatched to various polling units for the elections but he has asked other military and paramilitary to assist the police in various ways.

He said the Navy would assist the police with gunboats as they are short in boats and gunboats while the Joint Task Force is expected to help out in areas where the police strength is stretched too thin.

Pointing out that the police is neutral in the coming elections, Musa said to avoid misunderstanding that could trail the use of its anti crime outfit, Operation Famou Tangbei the command would use conventional police patrol vehicles during the elections.

His statement is coming against a backdrop of complaints by opposition parties that Operation Famou Tangbei was a tool of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to harass and intimidate candidates of other parties.

According to the police commissioner, he would ordered the dispersion of the outfit but for the successes it has recorded since its inception in reducing crime in the state capital to its barest minimum.

Musa therefore used the occasion to further appeal to politicians and Bayelsans to embrace peace as the police would remain neutral in the forthcoming elections to allow for a level playing field in the interest of Bayelsans and Nigerians in general.