The Nigeria Police Force has claimed that its personnel who blocked its Borno headquarters earlier Monday in Maiduguri, were not staging a protest, but “merely complaining” over the delay in payment of their special duty allowances.
The Force spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, in a statement claimed some of the police mobile force personnel on special duty only went to the command to enquire about the delay in the payment and not to protest.
Moshood said the officers who went on enquiry were not those attached to Operation Lafiya Dole in the fight against insurgency in the North East.
He said they were those on the category of visiting PMF units deployed in Maiduguri on Crime Prevention and other Police duties in the State.
“The force wish to categorically state that it is not correct that police personnel protested in Maiduguri today July 2,” he said.
Moshood said that the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, had directed the Commissioner of Police in Borno to address why the delay in the payment of their special duty allowances.
He also assured them that with the approval of the budget, the allowances would be expeditiously processed and paid without any further delay.
The spokesman said the IGP also ordered the Commissioner of PMF to proceed to Borno and other states in the North East where personnel are deployed on special duty.
He said the commissioner should also inform them on efforts being made by the force to ensure timely payment of their allowances.
“Members of the Public in Maiduguri, Borno are hereby enjoined not to panic but to go about their lawful duties and other responsibilities without fear or apprehension.
“The Nigeria Police Force is a disciplined organisation and will not allow any situation to degenerate into disturbance of Public Peace anywhere in the Country,“he said.
Earlier, mobile policemen in the Borno capital of Maiduguri staged a protest over non-payment of their allowances.
The protesting officers barricaded their command headquarters located on Maiduguri-Kano expressway.
The protest disrupted traffic on the road.
One of protesting policemen who pleaded anonymity, said they were angry over the non-payment of their allowances in the last six months.
“About 10, 000 mobile policemen were deployed to the state from different commands but we have not received our allowances in the past six months.
“We have been serving at the command headquarters since our deployment; but some of us deployed to other locations outside the headquarters were being paid their allowances as and when due.
“We have been facing hardships as a result of the non-payment of the allowances. We have made several complaints but nobody listened to us,” the aggrieved policeman said.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Damian Chukwu, blamed the non payment on the delay in the passage of the 2018 budget.
He called on the protesting policemen to calm down and assured them that their allowances would be paid.
