By John Oba
Abuja
Emir of Suleja, Alhaji Mohammad Awaal Ibrahim, has apologised to the management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) over the arrest of three corps members by some vigilantes who mistook them for arm robbers. According to him, he has order investigation into the circumstances surrounding their arrest.
Ibrahim stated this yesterday when the NYSC director-general who was represented by the director, Corps Welfares, Mr Michael Ikhilae, visited him in his palace in Suleja.
He assured the corps members of the emirate’s friendliness, adding that “nothing of such will happen to any corps members serving in the emirate again.”
The emir, who said he was aware of what happened until an anonymous person sent him a text, urged the scheme to improve its channels of communication
with the emirate.
He said: “Let me now on behalf of the emirate council apologise over the unfortunate incident, I will investigate what happened through the appropriate channels so as to ensure that such did not repeat itself. It is not in our character to maltreat corps members, because they are very dear to us. I will get the police to also brief me on what happened. But I want to encourage the scheme management to improve on the channel of communication.”
Responding, Mr Ikhilae said the aim of the visit was to appeal to the emir and the emirate to educate his subjects on the corps members, adding that they were on national service and should be accorded such regards.
He said the management also wanted to assured the corps members that they were safe and should go about their duty as it was not in the character of the community to maltreat corps members.
Addressing the corps members at the zonal office, he said: “We are on emergency visit to the zone to alleviate your fear and to express our sadness to the emir and he has assured us that such will never happen again.
“But you must respect the culture and tradition of your host community. Security as you know is everybody’s business, you should ensure that you are security conscious. Don’t go out in the night and don’t go out without informing your colleagues.”
