By Ahmed Ajikobi
The Kwara State chapter of Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) has denied the existence of Edu/Patigi zonal chapter.
Recall that in a statement issued last weekend, by the Edu/Patigi VGN Zonal Command and signed by its Provost, Mohammed Umar and Zonal Commander, Mohammed Dede, the group accused the Kwara State Police Command of taking undue credit for the rescue of four Turkish expatriates.
However, the leadership of the VGN has denied any knowledge of the existence of the zonal Edu/Patigi chapter of the security agents claiming each local government chapter operates on its own.
This was made known in a statement signed by the VGN Coordinator, Edu local government, Tsaduko A. Mohammed and the Chairman, VGN in Kwara State, Alhaji Saka Ibrahim (DSP Rtd), yesterday, a copy which was forwarded to the President and Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammad Buhari, the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, the Director of State Security and national headquarters of VGN.
The statement reads; “It has come to our notice in the social media that some group of people is accusing the Nigeria Police Force for singularly rescuing four Turkish expatriates from their abductors.
“It is unfortunate that the writer of the article does not know the parties involved in the rescue mission adding that the author is only trying to use the VGN, Edu chapter to black mail the Police.
“It is sad to inform the general public that the writer as he claimed is not a member of the Vigilante Group, Edu chapter. Also, there is no zonal Edu/Patigi Vigilante Group as each chapter operates on the basis of its local government.
“We the VGN, Edu chapter wishes to disassociate ourselves from the writer and the write-up as it lacks merit and does not reflect the true picture of what exactly happened.
“We also wish to warn the writer that if he has a problem with the Nigeria Police, he should face them squarely and desist from using our name to fight in disguise.”
The VGN however appreciated the efforts of all parties involved in the rescue operation of the Turkish personnel such as the Governor of Kwara State, Alh. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, Nigeria Police, DSS, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NDCDC), the Nupe community and Miyyetti Allah Group and the people of Edu LGA.
The VGN assured the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies in Kwara State of support even as it regrets whatever damage the writer and the write-up may have caused the police, other security agencies and the Nupe community.
