The Commissioner of Police in Abia, Mr Ambrose Aisabor, has threatened to sack any policeman who accompany revenue agents to collect revenue in the state.
Aisabor gave warning while interacting with journalists in his office in Umuahia on Thursday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that armed policemen accompany revenue collectors to offices and homes of residents to enforce the payment of various revenues introduced in Abia.??
Asiabor said that revenue collection was not one of the primary responsibilities of the police and that any policeman caught accompanying tax collectors, both the policeman and the officer that authorised it would be sacked.
??“No organisation, whether private or public, has my authority for police to assist his agency in collecting revenue.
“I have received several applications on that, but I turned them down because it is not the duty of the police to collect revenue.
“I know the State Government engaged a revenue consultant and the police was duly informed, but police is not under any obligation to give the consultant policemen,’’ he said.
According to him, any policemen caught following any team without authorisation from the commissioner of police will definitely loss his or her job.
Aisabor noted that the warning became necessary to absolve the police from any such act that had made critics to blackmail the police in the past.
“If you want to collect your revenue, go about it in a lawful manner. If somebody refuses to pay, take him or her to the law court for necessary actions that is how things are done in refined society.’’
Aisabor, who reviewed the activities of his command in the last seven months, said that he was impressed with the operations and conducts of his men when compared with others in the South-East and beyond.
The commissioner, who enjoined the public to support police, attributed the performance of the command to the good dispositions of the Gov. Theodore Orji, to security operatives and commitment to duty by the personnel. (NAN)