Less than a week after the clash between
Fulani herdsmen and Agatu people of Benue State, the Inspector-General
of Police, Solomon Arase, has faulted the killings saying the casualty
figure reported was blown out of proportion.
It should be recalled that during a
recent clash between the Agatu people of Benue State and their Fulani
counterparts, it was said that 300 people including children and
pregnant women were reportedly killed by the Fulani herdsmen and 7,000
others were said to have been displaced.
The battle between the Fulani and the
Agatu was said to have started after 10,000 herds of cattle belonging to
the Fulani were allegedly killed.
The IGP who came on a one-day visit to
address officers and men of the Niger Police Command in Minna, said, ”I
was around, I travelled to Benue State, I did not see where 300 people
were buried.”
He said “If you kill, you don’t just
bury; you must take the corpse to the police station before you bury, we
don’t have that number of people.”
Arase added that the police high command
had completed arrangement to check the incidence of cattle rustling
around the country, adding that the police would next week start what he
called ‘Metro patrol’ designed to arrest cattle rustlers.
Accordingly, he said “the police force
would not allow criminals to take over the states and the country.
Everything will be done to bring crime rate to the barest minimum.”
The IGP disagreed with those who have
said crime rate in Nigeria was very high asking such people to study
crime rate in South Africa, the United States of America and some other
countries before making their conclusions.
Arase directed the immediate withdrawal
of policemen from politicians, saying that only “high risk ones
(politicians) should be allowed to have orderlies.
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