TheCable

Usman Alkali Baba, inspector-general of police (IGP), has redeployed senior officers in the south-east as a measure to tackle the growing insecurity in the region.

Frank Mba, police spokesman, announced the development in a statement on Friday.

Among those redeployed is Monday Kuryas, Anambra commissioner of police.

Two deputy commissioners and 14 assistant commissioners were also affected in the shake-up which extended to some states in the south-south.

Nigeria has been battling rising insecurity but some south-east states have emerged as hotspots.

Security agents have come under increasing attacks in the region including in Imo where two police stations have been razed in 2021.

Earlier in April, unknown gunmen raided a federal prison in the state and freed more than 1,500 inmates during the violent attack.

There is no confirmed cause of the threats in the south-east yet, but TheCable found out that killings in the region tripled after the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) launched a security arm — the group denies any wrongdoing.

The governors of the fives states in the region established a joint security outfit “to fight and flush out criminals and terrorist from the zone.”

WHAT CHANGES DID THE POLICE MAKE?

Mba said Christopher Owolabi replaces Kuryas as the new commissioner in Anambra while the latter moves to the anti-fraud section of the force headquarters annex in Lagos.

“The deployment of the new CP is part of the ongoing efforts at re-ordering, overhauling and strengthening the security and policing architecture in Anambra State and other States of the South-East and South-South geo-political zones of the country,” the police statement read.

“In a similar vein, the IGP has ordered the posting of other strategic and tactical commanders within the zones. This is ultimately designed to improve the operational efficiency of the commands and enhance public safety and security.

“The IGP equally enjoined the people of South-East and South-South zones to cooperate with the Police and other security agencies to enable them to succeed in the responsibilities of safeguarding them and the commonwealth of the nation.”