Security agents raid Peace Corps, arrest Commandant, 49 others

The Nigeria Police Force in joint operations with the personnel of the Military and Department of State Services, DSS, yesterday, raided the headquarters of the Nigerian Peace Corps and arrested the National Commandant, Mr. Akor Dickson, and 49 others. The raid, Tuesday night, led to the closure of the Peace Corps of Nigeria secret training camps in Abuja, Kwara and Niger states. Giving reasons for the raid yesterday, the Nigeria Police Force spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood, said intelligence reports indicated that the Peace Corps and other similar groups “were acquiring weapons and conducting covert military training in different locations across the country. “It is evident that in 2013, the Federal Government’s official gazette dissolved and proscribed illegal security outfits such as Nigerian Maritime Security Agency, NMSA; Nigerian Merchant Navy Corps; the Nigerian Merchant Navy Petroleum Security and Safety, Peace Corps of Nigeria and other quasi-security outfits.
“However, it has been observed that NMSA, Peace Corps, Maritime Security Agency and National Task Force are still operating outside their mandates and purposes for which they were registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.” While noting that the Peace Corps, under the leadership of Akor Dickson, was registered as an NGO, Jimoh Moshood said the body, with brazen impunity and total disregard to the laws of the country, opened illegal training camps in some states, where thousands of youths and other persons without proper background checks and screening are receiving converts Military training.