The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has disbanded the Anti-vandal Unit of the Rivers State Command of the corps following allegations by the governor of the state, Nyesom Wike.

Some weeks ago, Wike accused the NSCDC unit and police of aiding and abetting vandals and illegal bunkers to carry out their nefarious activities in the state.

Reacting to this, the NSCDC Commandant General, Ahmed Audi, in a statement on Saturday expressed shock over the allegations as he ordered the suspension of the head of the anti-vandal team and the disbandment of the unit.

The statement issued by the NSCDC’s Director of Public Relations, Olusola Odumosu, reads, “Worried by this disappointing development, the CG has ordered the suspension of the head of the anti-vandal team and the disbandment of the unit with immediate effect, pending the outcome of an independent inquiry set up to look into the weighty allegations levelled against the unit by the governor.”

Audi also ordered the Acting DCG in charge of investigation and intelligence to summon all the personnel involved to the national headquarters in Abuja for further investigation to determine the level of involvement and or culpability to dispense justice appropriately.

He also said the allegations as not being in tandem with his vision for the corps, stressing that he won’t condone any criminal act or act of compromise by any personnel.

He assured Governor Wike of getting to the root of the matter without delay, promising more synergy with the state government towards discharging more effective service delivery to the good people of Rivers State.

He said, “The swift action taken by me is to close any identified gaps in our operations and service to the nation, I will not tolerate any act of indiscipline, compromise or sabotage under any guise; our founding fathers have worked so hard to earn a good name for the service as a noble organization and I will not allow a few bad eggs to spoil our name, image, our credibility, and integrity. We will investigate those fingered in the allegations and deal decisively with them if found guilty to serve as a deterrent to others.

“Our moral principles are not negotiable; we are going to rejig the unit and fish out those spoiling the name of the corps, my fight against vandals, illegal oil bunkers and those stealing our collective wealth and sabotaging our economy is unflinching and we will redouble our efforts to whittle down this act of sabotage and bring to justice anyone, not in tune with our vision and mission for the service.”