The Inspector General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris, has faulted claims by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State chapter, for the alleged killings of over 800 people of Southern Kaduna extraction by unidentified bandits last week.
At a press conference in Kafanchan last Thursday, the Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kafanchan, Ibrahim Yakubu, said bandits had attacked four local government areas in Southern Kaduna, killing over 800 people.
Speaking at a dinner organised for top brass of Police hierarchy, yesterday night, Idris, commended them, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, for their support since he assumed office last year.
According to him, an on-spot assessment of the crisis by him across the Southern Kaduna settlements proved contrary to the allegation that over 800 people were killed in the attacks by bandits.
The IG said: “I went to Kafanchan Monday by road and visited all the villages; it was marvelous what I saw. Policemen were alert and on the ground in all the villages visited. I went to Kafanchan, Jere, Gwoma and Kwoi repectively, I saw people in festive mood enjoying themselves.”
While faulting CAN’s claim for the alleged killings of over 800, he said: “We have people coming to the media to say that there are 800 corpses in these places.
“This is sickening because when people from outside the country hear this kind of thing, they would think that something is wrong with this country.
“There is need for our leaders to love this country more than they love themselves. It is sickening for somebody to go on the news and say that he saw 800 corpses.
“Even in Rwanda, where there was genocide, I don’t think anybody can quote that kind of figures. It is very sickening. Here you have somebody who says he is a religious leader saying all these.”
The police boss berated political and religious leaders for lacking patriotism, stressing that some of them are yet to imbibe the principles of true leadership principles.
He said: “Whether you are a religious, political or community leader, you should have some principle and that is what is lacking here; we should have love for Nigeria as a country. This is one thing (patriotism) that an average American doesn’t lack.”
Commending the anti-kidnapping squad for living up to expectation, he said police had arrested five suspected kidnappers of the former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Bagudu Hirse, who was kidnapped in November last year in Kaduna.
He said the five suspects would soon be paraded at the force headquarters after all necessary investigations into their activities had been concluded.
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
Suleiman Dankano
January 4, 2017 at 11:31 am
The IGP has simply displayed his illiteracy just like his headmaster. Over 800,000 people were killed in the Rwandan genocide and this man is saying no such alarm was raised? It goes to tell the kind of people advising the president on security matters. Even if one live was lost in Southern Kaduna is that not enough reason for the government to investigate the killings? Do we need to wait until hundreds and thousands of lives are lost before we can take action? Where were the police when the Fulani attacked a village under a 24-hour curfew? This IGP is shameless and is not fit to occupy a national office. Where did he see people in a festive mood when people were being massacred in Gwoska and Dangoma and when they were mourning their dead? It goes to the bottom of this crises that the governor and the security agencies are part of this ploy to annihilate the peace loving people of Southern Kaduna. Why didn’t he go to Gidan Waya and Godogodo? Why has there not been a curfew in these villages? Answer: when the Fulani have the upper hand, they look the other way, but when SK people retaliate, they make noise! Is he aware that the College of Education, Gidan Waya has remained closed for nearly two months now? It is easier to transfer blame when you are actually the culprit. Pouring his venom on the Bishop will only intensity the conflict. It is cheap talk to blame religious leaders when it ids they who bury the dead and can count the corpses.