…killers of 100 Benue indigenes have been arrested
Lawrence Olaoye Abuja
IGP, Baba
The newly Inspector-General of Police, (IGP),
Usman Baba, yesterday vowed to go after the financiers and leaders of Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN).
The number one policeman made this declaration during
a briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team at the Presidential Villa.
This statement came days after the Baba, according
to some national dailies, while addressing the Police Mobile Force and Special
Tactical Squad in Enugu State, after launching ‘Operation Restore Peace’
allegedly urged the personnel to deal with IPOB/ESN members, promising to
protect policemen who complied with his directives. Many human rights activists
have described Baba’s directives as a call for the extermination of the
organisation’s members.
Baba made the reference to the IPOB and ESN members
after he was asked if the police would go after the financiers of the
organisations in the South-east.
He replied: “Yes! In any kind of coordinated,
targeted and organised crime such as this, the leaders behind it can be within
or outside the country. You cannot say these are the leaders and where they are
operating from. Some of them are known, but not within our region, to bring them
to book. We have many in our custody and we are looking into their level of
involvements with a view to arraigning them. Then the issue of looking for
others is continuing.”
Baba, while expressing frustration at the slow pace
of prosecution of suspects due to the nation's justice system, said that some
local sponsors of the IPOB and ESN have been nabbed by the police.
The IGP seized the opportunity to reveal that the
perpetrators of recent mass killings in Benue State had been arrested and were
presently awaiting prosecution.
He explained that since the end of the #EndSARS
protests, there had been resurgence of insecurity in form of either attack on
Police personnel or facilities, or even all law enforcement agencies including the
military in the South-east.
His words: “Therefore, we decided to rejig the
morale of our personnel which had been a little bit dampened since the #EndSARS
came and went away. With the proscription of SARS, we have been able to marshal
up the courage of our personnel who have been involved in handling violent
crimes and post them for anti-robbery patrols. The IGP disclosed that he had
been able to arrest 398 armed robbery suspects, 258 cult related offenders, 222
murder suspects, 202 bandits related suspects and 86 suspects involved in cases
of kidnapping since he took over in April 7th.
Asked why many of those suspects being paraded to
the media do not end up being prosecuted and jailed, Baba blamed the nation's
slow justice system for the seeming delay of justice delivery. He noted that
the role of the police end with arrest, investigations and arraignment of
suspects in the court of law, pointing out that subsequent criminal judicial
process was frustratingly slow and tedious.
He added: “This is what we do to ourselves. If you
go to any of the French speaking country, if I call you a thief, it is you that
will prove that you're not a thief. But here, if I call you a thief, it is I that
will prove that you are a thief. So, in the criminal justice there are many
players. Today, there are celebrated cases that have been charged to court and
they are there for years and they are undergoing processes. The policeman's job
ends in coming to give evidence, which is by producing witnesses and exhibits.”
Speaking on parading of suspects before journalists,
he said: “Doing such was to show the world our achievements. Blowing our own trumpet
cannot be dismissed as media trial.”
No comments:
Post a Comment