Police Inspector-general Justifies Arrest Of Only Yoruba Suspects Over Ile-ife Clash

Source: thewillnigeria.com

SAN FRANCISCO, March 24, (THEWILL) – The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris, has given justification for the arrest of only Yoruba suspects with respect to the recent clash in Ile-Ife, Osun State, which resulted in the death of about 46 persons.

Speaking with State House correspondents on Friday after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on security situations in parts of the country, he asserted that crime neither has tribe nor identity.

Controversy has trialled the arrest and parading of 20 Yoruba persons, including a monarch, over the clash by the police, while no Hausa/Fulani person thought to be connected with the violence was detained.

Idris however said the police would not hesitate to apply the law once criminal cases are established against individuals, irrespective of their tribe.

According to him, “You know we are police officers. Crime has no tribe. If you are a criminal, you are a criminal.

“Crime has no face. We don't look at crime in the identity of where you are coming from.

“As far as you are a criminal and the police find you wanting, we apply the law.”

The IGP said investigation had revealed that the crisis started with a disagreement between two people selling food along the road.

Speaking on the massacre in Zaki Biam, Benue State, he said he had deployed police special units to arrest one of the men declared wanted in connection with the case.

His words, “We have deployed Mobile Police Unit on 16th of this month and of recent that incident that happened at Zaki Biam there are allegations on that Gana, one of the wanted man.

“This man has been in the police wanted list and I now decided to deploy some special unit both investigative to go after him and get him by all means.

“Like I said earlier, definitely, we are going to get that man.”

On what he discussed with the President, Idris said, “The meeting was to share with the President our deployment strategies on ground; our deployment to some of these flash points all over the country, especially Benue which is the current one.

“We also talked about deployment to Kaduna State which started some few weeks back and deployment to Ile-Ife where we have a lot of police officers both special squads and investigation team on ground to conduct investigation on the matter.”

The IGP said Buhari directed him to ensure that all facilities at police's disposal are used to make sure that these security challenges are brought under control as soon as possible.