The police responded yesterday to the accusation that they have been partial in their investigation of the recent communal crisis in Ile-Ife,Osun State that claimed at least 46 lives.
The clash pitched the Yoruba against Hausa.
The police moved in and arrested a number of suspects, the majority of whom are Yoruba.
The development drew sharp criticisms from prominent Yoruba leaders and groups who believe the police are partial towards the Hausa.
They wonder why only the Yoruba are being arrested and harassed over the clash.
However, Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris yesterday denied any such act by the police.
“Crime has no tribe,” he told State House correspondents after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the security situations in different parts of the country.
He added: “If you are a criminal, you are a criminal.
“Crime has no face. We don’t look at crime in the identity of where you are coming from.
“As far as you are a criminal and the police find you wanting, we apply the law.”
The Police IG expressed doubts over the involvement of Fulani herdsmen in the recent killings in Zaki Biam, Benue State.
He said indications point in the direction of a wanted hoodlum, Gana.
His words:”No, I don’t think it was an activity of Fulani herdsmen.It was an activity of a criminal who is using members of his criminal gang in the state to harass people.
”There are allegations that Gana, one of the wanted men, caused it.
“This man has been on the police wanted list. I decided to deploy some special units to go after him and get him by all means.
“Definitely we are going to get him.”
On his mission at the State House, he said: “I came to see the President to update him on the deployment of the police in our effort to ensure that we have security all over the country.
“Obviously, it was to share with him our deployment strategies on ground; our deployment to some of these flash points all over the country, especially Benue, which is the current one; deployment to Kaduna State which started a few weeks ago; and deployment to the Ile-Ife crisis where we have a lot of police officers, both the special squad and investigation team.”
Asked on the specific directives given to him by the President, he said: “Obviously, there should be a specific directive to ensure that all of us use all the facilities at our disposal to make sure that some of these incidents we are talking about are brought under control as soon as possible.
“I gave the President my assurance that we are going to do that. As I said earlier, we have deployed a special squad to Benue and we are surely going to get that Gana within a short time.”
He dismissed suggestions that the police have no strategy for fighting crimes in the country, saying: “You know some of these crises; we have to look at the immediate causes for you to make a proper classification of the crimes,
“If you followed some of these crimes, they were just crimes that happened without any warning.
“If you look at that Ife crisis, if you see how it started, it was just a disagreement between two people, selling food along the road. So you have to look at the dynamics of the country itself.
“Obviously, when you have such a situation, we have to react to it. We have to move in to ensure we provide some security to the people.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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IGP Idris hasn't said anything with particular reference to Ile-Ife crisis. The responsibility that the criticism in this case places on him is simply for him to produce statistics of the arrests; let him tell the nation how many arrests were made. Out of the entire number, he needs to tell us how many were Yoruba, how many were Hausa, and how many were - if there were - other ethnic groups. Until does so, the criticism in this particular case remains BIG and BOLD and unassailable.
ReplyDeleteInjustice is the bane of peace in Nigeria. It will consume all of them very very soon.
ReplyDelete