Inspector-General of Police
Ibrahim Idris has set up a committee to destroy 10,000 illegal firearms and
26,000 ammunition recovered from members of the public earlier this year.
The committee, which would be
headed by the DIG in charge of Operations, Habila Joshak, has representatives
from United Nations (UN) organs, Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) and Presidential Committee on Prohibition of Small Arms and Light
Weapons (PRESCOM).
Idris at a monthly meeting with
senior police officers on Thursday said the weapons would be destroyed before
the 2019 elections.
The IG also described the actions
of the El-Zakzaky Islamic Movement of Nigeria members as un-Islamic.
He said: “I have set up a
committee headed by the DIG Department of Operations comprising the United
Nations Organs, the ECOWAS and the Presidential Committee on Prohibition of
Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM) and other critical stakeholders for the
destruction of illegal weapons retrieved from members of the public before the
2019 General Election.
“They will destroy about 10,000
illegal firearms and prohibited weapons and over 26,000 illegal ammunition
recovered in the mop-up operations of illegal firearms and prohibited weapons
currently ongoing throughout the country.”
The IG warned that the Force
would longer tolerate negligence on the part of Commissioners of Police in
preventing crisis.
He said: “The Government and the
people expect much from us in ensuring security and safety of all Nigerians
throughout the country as we go into the 2019 general elections.
“The Force will no longer
tolerate laxity on the part of any Commissioner of Police, who fails to be
proactive in dealing with crisis and other violent crimes in their area of
responsibilities (AOR).
“We have to do more in ensuring
adequate security throughout the country from now on to the election and
beyond.”
On the crisis in the FCT caused
by members of the El-Zakzaky Islamic Movement of Nigeria, the IG said: “Most of
the El-Zakzaky Islamic Movement of Nigeria’s members were arrested with hard
drugs in their possession and these are people that claimed to be Islamic. This
makes us to start thinking and questioning them.
“These youths have been used to
cause havoc and I think the group should just be called El-Zakzaky because I
don’t see anything Islamic about them.
“These are people who are trying
to bring problem of security to the country and the strategies applied by the
police were the best.
“I think our actions are
commendable because our confrontation with them has not led to any death and
that was because we were trying to avoid using too much force in tackling the
situation.
“Our response has to be measured
because these are Nigerians who are misguided. So, we need to apply strategies
to handle them.”
The IG added that some of them
would be charged to court for terrorism.
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