Killing of Policemen by Military: Reps Minority Caucus Describes Act As Huge Blow On War Against Insecurity

…Calls for Judicial Panel of Enquiry.

The minority caucus of the House of Representatives, has condemned in strong terms, the killing of three police officers allegedly by military personnel in Taraba State and the purported escape of a kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume, saying these incidents have further demonstrated why the country was far from winning the war against insecurity.

The caucus said the situation where security agencies turn their guns at one another, leading to the questionable “escape” of hardened criminals pointed to leadership failure in the security sector.

Baring its mind in a press release endorsed by the Minority Leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu on Friday 9th August, 2019 and made available to newsmen in Abuja, the caucus’ statement reads in part:

“We are very aggrieved by the killing of three members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) by soldiers on Ibi-Jalingo road in Taraba State. The gruesome murder of some of Nigeria’s anti-kidnapping and anti-insurgency police intelligence officers shames us before the entire world and highlights, once more, the seeming lack of operational synergy and the unhealthy inter-agency rivalry and sabotage, that keeps Nigeria far from winning the war against escalating insecurity across the nation.

“A situation where policemen on lawful duty are mowed down so gruesomely at the hands of a sister security agency is untenable and demonstrates leadership failure of unspeakable proportions in the security sector. It portrays the nation’s security agencies as working at cross-purposes and infested by fifth columnists.

“We therefore, as opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives, call on the Federal Government to immediately institute a judicial panel of enquiry into the incident, with a view to unraveling the circumstances that led to the unwarranted incident. It must not be swept under the carpet as usual.

“Whereas the House minority caucus will take up this matter upon resumption of plenary, we also call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to institute a full judicial enquiry into the death and circumstances surrounding the supposed vanishing into the thin air, of an alleged billionaire kidnap kingpin, who has been a high security risk to the society.

“The investigation ordered by the National Security Council at the end of its Thursday, August 8, emergency meeting, appear all too banal and may not yield much if investigations into related events of past years is anything to go by.

“Furthermore, Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion and those entrusted with securing the lives and property of Nigerians must never be above suspicions of conspiracy, aiding, and abating crime or of sabotaging the solving of crimes.

“We, therefore call on the security agencies, particularly the military authorities in this instance, to launch a manhunt for Alhaji Hamisu that will produce him to face the law. Allowing such a dangerous character to reintegrate into the society is a security risk of monumental proportions”, the caucus stated.

The lawmakers sympathised with the Nigeria Police and the family of the deceased over the loss of their officers and loves ones and prayed God to grant the fallen security agents eternal peace, noting that they were heroes, having died in active service to their fatherland.