Cross River State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Obi-Ozeh, has declared as illegal and criminal the 1,500-member Green Police inaugurated on May 26 this year and recently retooled with 10 branded fast cars by Governor Ben Ayade.

At the launch, he had said: “You are the Green eyes of Africa and have been conferred with powers to enforce the state’s sanitation laws and policies. You can arrest and issue warrants while ensuring that all citizens and residents comply with the state’s sanitation and environmental policies.”

But Obi-Ozeh told newsmen yesterday in Calabar that “the Green Police will be clamped down on if they are seen operating in the state. It is a breach of the 1999 constitution (as amended).”

He went on: “According to Section 214, there shall be a Police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigerian Police Force and subject to the provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established.

“I am here to defend the constitution. I need not to wait for my Inspector General to carry out my duty if anyone is breaching the criminal aspect of the constitution. What I can do is to take action and brief my IG and that is the action I have taken.”

•Excerpted from a Guardian report. Photo shows IGP Ibrahim Idris.

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