Boko Haram: Provide Policemen With Sophisticated Weapons, Wives Of Slain Officers Tell IG

SAN FRANCISCO, June 05, (THEWILL) â€' The Federal Government has been told to properly equip the men and officers of the Nigeria Police with sophisticated weapons to enable them combat the Boko Haram insurgency adequately.

The call was made Thursday by one of the wives of slain policemen who were killed in recent onslaught against Boko Haram at Gamboru, the Nigeria's border town with Cameroon in Borno State.

The widow, Kuve Matthew Vincent, lamented that her husband and several other policemen killed by Boko Haram would have been alive if sophisticated weapon had been provided to them by the Federal Government.

Giving a vote of thanks on behalf of other families after a cash gift of a N1 million was given to each to the 16 families of slain policemen killed in Gamboru about a month ago, Kuve told the Borno State Police Commissioner, Lawan Tanko, to pass their appeal to the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar.

'Our husbands are killed because they are made to confront the insurgents without sophisticated weapon and it will be disastrous to allow this to continue,' she told CP Tanko.

According to the widow, the Federal Government could only limit the casualties in the onslaught against Boko Haram if policemen are well equipped.

Lamenting that though she had lost her husband who was two weeks away from being promoted a sergeant, she said the pain of 'seeing your husband in the morning going to work but having his corpse return back in the evening was unbearable and 'something should be done to stop this ugly trend.'

Also appealing to the Inspector General of Police to stop the policy of stopping the salaries of slain policemen immediately, saying most of the wives of these officers are not employed, she maintained that 'it would only amount to double tragedy to stop the money that should have been given to a mourning widow. The ceremony was sponsored by the Borno State Government which gave out the sum of N16.8 million to the police to share among the families of the 16 slain policemen and four wounded others.

Speaking at the occasion, CP Tanko, who presented the money to the women, said N1 million was given to each of the 16 families of the slain policemen while N200, 000 each was given to the four injured policemen.

'Today as we gather here, it is a sad moment because we are here to witness the issuance of relief provided by the Borno State Government to the families of some of our colleagues we lost at Gamboru Ngala attack,' he said even as he explained that the police authorities were working on the entitlements of the slain policemen.

Maintaining that the money given out was only a palliative and not the death benefit, the Police Commissioner said arrangement is already in place for the payment of the benefits of the slain policemen to their families.