AIG Akilu Usman Gwary

The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 9, comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states, AIG Akilu Usman Gwary, has cautioned members of the public who have formed the habit of giving police false information against the suspects to desist from doing so or face the consequence of such action.

He stated this in an interview with newsmen while recounting his experiences after one year he was elevated to the position of AIG. He noted that members of the public need more orientation on how not to go to the police to tell all sorts of lies against suspects which would later turn out to be untrue.

AIG Gwary decried a situation whereby complainants would run to the police at the slightest problem to make statement to intimidate suspects and get them detained by telling all sorts lies.
To this end, the AIG Zone 9 further revealed that whenever he found out that he had been misled by complainants, he would charge the matter to court saying that so far, he had charged 13 people to court for giving false information. The police boss pointed out that in every command; he tried to educate his commissioners of police on the habit of complainants who would paint a different picture from the stark reality on ground.

He also blamed lawyers for conniving with complainants to write over exaggerated petitions especially on land issues. For example, a complainant may allege that there is a threat to life, that the suspect carried ammunition trying to kill him (complainant). Acting on the petition, the Police may go to the suspect’s house and find nothing.

On his achievements so far after a year plus he was elevated to the AIG position, he told journalists that he reported as AIG Zone 9 on 20 August 2014 after he was moved from Anambra State as the Commissioner of Police within the zone. According to him: “Before coming down here, I was conversant with the modus operandi of criminals here, I had been DC before, hence South East is not completely a new terrain.” He disclosed that when he was a CP in Anambra State, he observed that kidnapping and armed robbery were on the high side but with a systematic approach, the crime rate was reduced drastically. Night life started coming back in major cities like Awka, Onitsha, Owerri, Aba etc.

The police boss gave kudos to the governors of South East for their political will to support the police. AIG Gwary maintained that his success in Anambra was based on the support Governor Willie Obiano gave to him. He added that governors in the zone have realised that security is very important, thus every Igbo man who is a businessman knows the value of money, that it is very important to have conducive environment for their customers who come from far and near to buy their goods. He noted that this has brought prosperity to the people of the South East states.

AIG Gwary also underscored the importance of Community/Police relations. He said: “We have taken community police relations very seriously. It is one of the things we teach in police training school to have service delivery for police to learn to respect the citizenry.” He added that police men need to be very polite in all their dealings, that they should be very civil.