Insecurity: Gunmen, kidnappers on the prowl

…Kill district head, son in fresh Kaduna attacks

..Kidnap eight persons in Edo, 12 ASPs in N-West

…Police’ll no longer fold its arms – Edo CP

..I’m in firm control of police force, IGP replies retired general

By Kingsley Omonobi, Gabriel Enogholase,  Ndahi Marama, Alemma Ozioruva & Ibrahim HassanWuyo

The insecurity in the country festered yesterday as gunmen in the early hours of yesterday, invaded Gidan Zaki in Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing the District Head of Gidan Zaki, Haruna Kuye and his son, Destiny Kuye.

The monarch’s wife was said to have sustained machete wound, while the daughter sustained gunshot injury.

Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, who confirmed the development in a statement yesterday, said: “Three empty cases and a live round of 7.62mm special ammunition were recovered at the scene of the attack.’’

Aruwan added that troops, in collaboration with other security agencies, have commenced investigation into the matter in a bid to apprehend the assailants.

The statement also said Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, condemned the killing of the district head and his son, and charged security operatives to thoroughly probe the matter.

The statement read: “The military under the auspices of Operation Safe Haven has informed the Kaduna State Government of the killing of the District Head of Gidan Zaki, Mr. Haruna Kuye and his son, Destiny Kuye in the early hours of today (Tuesday, 17th November 2020). They were killed in their residence at Gidan Zaki, Zangon Kataf Local Government.

“The security report further stated that the act was carried out by about five men wielding AK-47 rifles and machetes, who also tried to burn the house and a vehicle.

“Troops in collaboration with other security agencies are carrying out investigations and trailing the assailants.”

Kidnappers’ siege on commercial bus

Similarly, suspected kidnappers yesterday abducted eight passengers of a commercial bus between Okhuesan and Emu in Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State.

The bandits reportedly robbed all the occupants of the Toyota Hiace bus and dispossessed them of their valuables.

Vanguard gathered that the hoodlums had emerged from a nearby bush within the area and took the bus to a corner before robbing the occupants.

A resident in the area said:   “All the occupants in the bus were from Ubiaja. The male passengers and driver, including three aged women, were left to go home after robbing them, while ladies between ages of 30 and 40 were taken away.”

But when contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Chidi Nwabuzor, said he was yet to be briefed about the development.

Police’ll no longer fold its arms

Meanwhile, Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr. Johnson Kokumo, has vowed that the police would no longer fold their arms and allow  personnel to be killed like chickens by hoodlums.

He spoke yesterday at Idogbo near Benin during the inauguration of a 70-member vigilante in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of the State

He said: “Police should use their arms professionally if our lives are in danger or defending others whose lives are facing possible death and we will have justification to use our arms.

“It’s our responsibility to sanitize the state and the Inspector General of Police has gone ahead with confidence building of the police after #EndSARS.

READ ALSO: Police nab kidnapper who murdered 8 year-old girl despite receiving ransom

“We will keep talking to our men not to police with bitterness. But never again will it happen for someone carrying jack-knife to kill a policeman carrying AK-47.’’

Also, BBC Hausa Service reported yesterday that 12 police officers (all ASPs)were abducted by bandits.

The Policemen were said to be moving in a convoy from Borno State to Zamfara State.

The wife of one of the officers told BBC that her husband had phoned and instructed her to sell his house to raise ransom.

She said she knew the families of eight other abducted officers, adding that families were working to raise N800,000 each to rescue them.

When BBC contacted the Borno Police Command, from where the officers were deployed, they directed BBC to the Katsina or Zamfara Commands. Both claimed to have no knowledge of the incident.

According to BBC, the Police hierarchy in Abuja refused to deny or confirm the story.

I’m in firm control — IGP

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, said yesterday he was in firm control of the Nigeria Police Force.

He said those who accused him of losing control of the police were totally ignorant.

The IGP was reacting to the statement credited to a retired Army General and former  Director-General, Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Major General Garba Wahab, retd, who said the IGP appeared to have lost control of the Nigerian Police Force, following the refusal of policemen to return to their duty posts in the aftermath of #EndSARS’ protests nationwide.

A statement, titled ‘Workings of the NPF: IGP is in firm control’ issued by Force Headquarters, Abuja yesterday, read: “The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to comments and reactions during an interview session on Channels TV Sunrise Daily programme of 13th November, 2020 where one Major General Garba Wahab, retd, commented that ‘the IGP is sitting down there with all the paraphernalia of office deprived of actually having control of police… he is not in control’.

“The Force wishes to categorically state that the retired Major General is wrong in his assertion as IGP Adamu is firmly in control of the administration and operation of the Nigeria Police Force.

“It notes that the comments by Retd Major General Garba Wahab show that he spoke purely out of ignorance and from a jackboot mentality that lacks proper understanding of democratic policing culture, rooted in the Rule of Law.”

“It reiterates that the retired Officer clearly spoke on a subject outside his areas of core competence.

“It is noteworthy that since his assumption of office as the 20th indigenous Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni, a global policing icon, has in the past twenty-three months of his leadership of the Force, shown sterling qualities in what the operational/administrative command and control of the Force should be.

“This is exemplified in the various reform policies being implemented to reposition the Force for greater efficiency, uphold the rule of law in policing actions and drive a citizen-centred policing approach.

“It is to the credit of his robust leadership style that even in the face of the recent violence occasioned by the ENDSARS protest and provocative attacks on Police personnel and assets, the officers under his command exercised maximum restraint and stayed calm, professional and committed to maintaining law and order in the country.”

Vanguard News Nigeria

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