Some Traditional, Religious leaders Aiding, Abetting Criminality, Army Alleges

The Nigeria Army 6 Division Port Harcourt has said that it is aware that some traditional and religious leaders are aiding criminals fuelling insecurity in some parts of South-South region.

Lt.-Col. Michael Iweha, Deputy Director Army Public Relations, 6 Division, Nigeria Army, Port Harcourt, said in Port Harcourt that it was no longer uncommon to see some traditional leaders abetting crime and criminality in their localities.

“Here in the Niger Delta for instance, we have had situations where some traditional leaders were directly involved in aiding people who were into illegal bunkering of crude oil.

“We have also had situations where some traditional leaders even sponsor gangs to commit crimes in the region.

“However, we have some good traditional leaders who have supported security agencies to identify criminals, whereas there are also those who do not provide us any support,” Iweha said.

He said that investigation had shown that some of the traditional rulers who did not support security agencies were themselves complicit in insecurity in their locality.

“Although crime is not something that is peculiar to a particular set of people or position, it is rather unfortunate to see that people who are custodians of our customs fuel insecurity.

“However, we will not because someone is a traditional ruler fail to arrest such a person if he or she gets involved in crime.

“Even though I am relatively new in Rivers State and so may not know the history of arrests, I am certain the division will not hesitate to arrest such people,” he added.

The army spokesman recalled that during his previous assignment in Jos there were cases where some traditional rulers were arrested and deposed for their involvement in insecurity.

According to him, the Zamfara state Government recently deposed some Emirs over their alleged backing of bandits and terrorists.

“So, such cases are not uncommon. It is a situation we see often in the course of carrying out our work,” he said.