A civil society group, the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), has condemned Mr Moshood Ji­moh, the Lagos State Com­missioner of Police (CP), over alleged allegiance to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and an attempt to disrupt June 12 protest in Lagos on Thursday.

YRC, in a statement signed by Francis Nwapa, its Nation­al Secretary, made available to Sunday Independent at the weekend, said that like Jimoh’s predecessors, most Commis­sioners of Police are never shy of being the lapdog of the rul­ing elites, especially the ones in power.

It stressed that Jimoh, in his conduct as a high-ranking police officer, did not fall short of that standard set by his pre­decessors.

The group alleged that last Thursday during the June 12 nationwide protest in Lagos, the APC chairman in Lagos State paid consultant to the Lagos State government, Best Nze-Jombo, “mobilised APC members, mercenaries and poor Nigerians that are vic­tims of weaponised poverty to organise a counter rally at the same venue where civil society organisations had picked as a convergence for their protest.”

YRC scribe stated that in what looked like a deliberate attempt to provoke the anti-gov­ernment protesters, Jimoh sta­tioned his men almost right in the group’s midst ostensibly to ensure free flow of traffic, while the APC supporters who were just opposite the protesters, were allowed to barricade the roads and hinder flow of traffic.

Nwapa said that upon his challenge to Jimoh as to why the double standard, an argu­ment ensued between them which prompted him (Jimoh) to immediately threaten, “I will smoke you all”.

The YRC scribe stated: “Upon hearing this, we were left in dismay as to the professional­ism of such a high-ranking po­lice officer in conflict resolution.

“Under the watch of CP Mo­shood Jimoh, while anti-gov­ernment protesters were in procession towards Ojota, the pro-government agents kept driving their large musical truck into our procession in a bid to cause distraction, drown our voices with their sound and provoke us.

“In fact, at some point, Best Nze-Jombo came into our midst, while taking pictures of speak­ers and protesters. Despite these provocations, the police did nothing.”

The YRC stressed: “CP Mos­hood Jimoh has clearly demon­strated that he lacks the ability or integrity to be an unbiased police officer capable of main­taining law and order in Lagos State.

“We see these shameful ac­tions of a high-ranking police officer like CP Moshood Jimoh as a public announcement of his membership of the APC.

“Again, while CP Moshood Jimoh tried to latch on a Jan­kara court order obtained by the Lagos State Attorney Gen­eral last August during the #EndBadGovernanceInNige­ria Protest in Lagos to restrict protesters in Lagos into a park at Ojota, he did not apply this order to APC supporters who barricaded the road at Ikeja un­derbridge.”