The people of Opu-Nembe and surrounding communities in Nembe local government area of Bayelsa State, on Tuesday, staged a solidarity rally in support of the deployment of Police operatives to their community, with a plea that the Police should remain in the community to sustain the peace it has restored.
Women, youths and men who gathered at the community town hall and later moved around the community singing, dancing and hugging one another, said they were pleased with the peace the Police have been able to restored to the community.
Armed with placards with different inscriptions such as “Governor Douye Diri please leave Opu-Nembe alone”, “Opu-Nembe is liberated”, “ No more destruction of houses, the people of Opu- Nembe can now sleep peacefully”, “No more stealing and raping”, “ IGP please don’t pull out the Policemen”, “The people of Oluasiri are delighted that that Opu- embe is liberated”, “FG and IGP thank you for restoring peace to Opu-Nembe, we are grateful”, and “We want the Police to remain in Opu-Nembe”, speakers took turns to commend the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, for the timely deployment of Police operatives, which ended the reign of terror in the community.
Speaking in an interview, Mrs Hannah Gift, said she had been out of the community for over one year, noting that she was happy to be back since peace has returned to the community. She, however, urged the Bayelsa State government to cooperate with the Police deployed to the community to sustain the peace.
“I want to thank the IGP for bringing peace to the community. For the past few years, we have been suffering in silence due to the reign of terror in the community until the IGP deployed operatives. Please, we don’t want the Police to go. They should stay for us. We don’t want Governor Douye Diri to castigate the Police; the Police are here to bring peace.”
Mr Simeon Peter, who spoke on behalf of the elders, said the IGP deserved commendation for taking the step to deploy professional Police operatives to the community.
“I want, on behalf of the elders, to express special gratitude to the Federal Government and the IGP for the deployment of Police operatives that have brought peace to the community. We urge the state government to join hands with the Federal Government to stamp out terror from our community,” Peter stated.
Also speaking, Mrs Cecilia Julius, who said her husband was killed by a faction of the youth group in the community, said the peace that has returned to the community should be sustained.
“The community needs to be safe. The Police should not leave this community because if they leave, we are all dead,” she said.
For her part, Madam Pogomatie Otuma, commended the Federal Government and the IGP for deploying Police operatives to the community, which she admitted has returned peace to the community.
“I thank the Federal Government and the IGP for deploying Police operatives to the community which has brought about peace. We are now safe, and we want the Police to remain so that there won’t be any crisis again forcing us to run helter skelter,” she added.
