The leadership of the Kano State Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) in a public petition issued by Barr. Abba Hikima have alleged that “the Kano Police Command is out to strangulate the Federal Government’s effort towards effective Community based policing in the state at a time when Nigeria is bleeding with criminality.
On the 7th day of July 2021, the Kano State High Court handed down an interim order restraining Police and the National Executive Council of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) from dissolving or purporting to dissolve the leadership of the State PCRC.
The said order also restrained a supposed caretaker committee from parading themselves as the new executives of the committee or howsoever accepting to be recognized as such.
It was gathered that not only has the Police Commissioner, Mr S.S Dikko been served with the order of the Court, but he was also the 8th Respondent in the suit and has even filed several applications before the Court through the command’s chief counsel Mr Sunday Ekwe.
On two different occasions after the Court order, one at Kwalli Division and the other at Takai Local Government, the Kano Police Commissioner has frustrated functions organized by the PCRC, aimed at fostering synergy and understanding between police and community.
The commissioner of police was also said to have gathered all DPOs and instructed them not to recognize the court recognized executives of the PCRC.
The PCRC Chairman Saleh Jili said the root cause of his feud with the Kano police command is his resistance to the illegal issuance of PCRC ID which the state command’s PPRO Mr Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa embarked upon without proper account.
The petition reads in part: “The PCRC is Nigeria’s oldest Community policing based organization established in 1984 for the purpose of fostering partnership and understanding between police and members of the community”.
“The committee in Kano State has procured several vehicles for the police, built police outposts and supported the police in various ways. Earlier this year, the Kano State PCRC organized a state-wide security summit massively attended by dignities, security experts and artisans from the 44 local government councils of Kano state where people received training on the topic “How to report crimes and criminality without getting victimized”.
‘’The PCRC has for the past 37 years championed Nigeria’s Community policing project in Kano and the Country at large. We shall follow all legally allowed means including commencing contempt proceedings against the person of the Commissioner of police who is about the only one resisting the order of Kano High Court, to ensure that he does not disrespect our Courts and get away with it.’’
‘’His actions are clearly arbitrary and contemptuous and if not urgently checked by either the hierarchies of the police or the court itself would herald chaos and anarchy. The same also possess a threat to Kano’s Community policing program”
The Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje had on August 2, 2021 while inaugurating Rano Emirate Community policing committees in Doguwa Local Government area said community policing is being woven into the fabric of Kano society as a political entity and that the State Government has trained 5,504 constables to support Community policing in the State.
The Governor stated that his administration finds it necessary to support Community participation in the security of the State.
“We have gone further by recruiting police constabulary, who are assisting the security agencies. And also we are assisting the various community policing committees.
“We trained in Kaduna 704 graduates of Police Constabulary. Also, for each of the 36 local governments, we are training 100 Police constabulary, making a total of 3,600 Police constabulary.
“For the eight metropolitan local governments, we are training 150 each, giving rise to 1,200 police constabulary and having a total of 4,800 police constabulary in addition to 704 that have already been trained, which all stands at 5,504 Police Constabulary now at hand.”
“Community participation, apart from community policing, is necessary for us to achieve a desirable situation from all ramifications. As such, we are also inviting corporate social responsibility in the management of security situation in Kano state,” the statement quoted Mr Ganduje as saying at the event.
“Our security agencies have succeeded in building full synergy among themselves and we have extended coordination in order to get security information and action in Kano State.
