IG vows to track down Nasarawa policemen killers

THE Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar has said investigation into the killing of security personnel by the Ombatse cult group in Nasarawa State is ongoing, stressing that the killers will not go unpunished.

Abubakar vowed that nobody or group of persons operating under any name would kill personnel of the force and escape justice.

Speaking  with newsmen shortly after inaugurating 12 patrol vehicles for the Abuja-Kaduna highway at the Force Headquarters, Abuja on Monday, the IG explained that he lost 49 policemen in the attack on security men at Lakyio village in Nasarawa State.

He said their death would not be in vain.

He said, "Investigation is ongoing and the outcome of the investigation will be revealed to Nigerians at the most appropriate time. We cannot keep quiet to allow anybody in this country, whether individual or group of persons, under whatever canopy they call their names to kill officers of the police and go scot-free.

"There has never been speculation. We have always given the number  out. We lost 49 police officers."

On the sealing off  of Wonderland Amusement Park and Amigo  Supermarket in Abuja owned by a Lebanese businessmen, Mustapha Fawaz, accused of having ties with the Hezbollah terrorist group, the IG said the closure was not a new development but done as part of measures to secure the nation.

He said, "There is nothing new; security is security. You know what is happening in the country. We will go ahead to take any measure that deserves to be taken to ensure that Nigeria is safe and Nigerians are given safe and secure environment."

Meanwhile, a former Security Adviser to the Rivers State Government, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, has said the Federal Government  should go beyond declaration of emergency in some northern states if it is serious about winning the war against terrorism.

Sara-Igbe described terrorism as an intellectual warfare, which military action may not win, adding that the emergency declaration amounted to treating  symptoms of a serious disease, stressing that it was not  a war of armament.

The security expert restated his call for the creation of a Counter-Terrorism Unit, comprising specially trained personnel that can infiltrate the Boko Haram sect, identify its sponsors and prosecute them.

According to him, the head of the CTU should be a combatant, who is versed in counter-terrorism strategies and is willing to explore the grass roots and get the local communities to expose the terrorists among them.



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