‘Pay Our Salaries, Okada Riders are Taking Our Wives’ – Police Constabularies Demand of Force

News - Women's Perspective

their grievance about the non-payment of their salaries, some Personnel of the Nigeria Police Special Constabulary on Wednesday stormed the streets of Osogbo, the Osun State capital, to stage a protest.

According to the protesting constabulary officers, the management of the Nigeria Police Force has owed them stipends for 18 months.

The police constabularies were gathered at the popular Oke-Fia roundabout and moved through Alekuwodo to Olaiya junction to register their displeasure over the unpaid allowances.

The protesters, dressed in police uniforms and armed with placards bearing different inscriptions, also revealed that four of them had been killed by armed robbers during attacks on banks in Ikire and Iragbiji in one year.

The Osun Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, who tried in vain to calm the protesters, promised to address journalists later in the day.

Hundreds of police constabularies have protested the alleged non-payment of their 18-month salaries in Osun.

They also lamented that Okada riders have began taking their wives because they could no longer fend for them.

The auxiliary officers marched on the major streets and junctions of Osogbo, the capital of Osun State bearing placards with various inscriptions.

The constabularies recruited to complement the police structure by providing intelligence, among others were inaugurated in May 2021 at Police Headquarters, Osun State after their training in April 2021.

The protesting policemen in uniforms converged on the Old-Garage area, marching through Oke-Fia, Alekuwodo before storming the Ola-Iya flyover to press home their demands.

They carried placards with several inscriptions such as: ‘Pay our salary now’; ‘Okada riders are sleeping with our wives;’ ‘Pay us our 18-month salary;’ ‘pay us our Stipends And Allowances’ and ‘18 months without kobo’ among others.

One of the leaders of the protesting policemen, Constable Tijani Adewale, said despite the non-payment of salaries they are committed to duties stressing that amid their predicament three Constabularies died while on duty.

He lamented commercial tricyclists and motorcyclists have snatched their wives due to their inability to provide for them and their children.

Adewale explained: “We have gone to the local government, honourable and dignitaries in the state yet no positive result. We lost three persons in Ikire and one in Iree. These people died in the course of discharging their duty. We are very dutiful even though we have not been paid a dime. Due to unpaid allowances, tricycle and Okada riders have snatched our wives because of their inability to take care of them.”

Osun Police Commissioner Olawale Olokode later joined them at the Ola-Iya bridge and ordered them to stop the protest immediately.

He assured them that the concerned authorities will intervene in the matter to resolve the issues.

In his words: “You are embarrassing the force with your protest. You should have channelled your grievances to the appropriate quarters. You are disturbing public peace with this your protests. As far as you are wearing this uniform, we expect you to maintain high discipline as a force man”.