Nigeria’s Police Chief Says 20 Operatives Killed by Criminals in March
More than 20 police operatives were killed by criminals in Nigeria in March, the inspector-general of police, Mohammed Adamu, has revealed.
Adamu made this revelation at a multi-stakeholders’ consultative forum on peace and security challenges in Nigeria.
He was represented by the assistant inspector-general (AIG) operations, Johnson Kokumo at the forum, which was organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) in Abuja.
He expressed concern over the security trends in the country, saying it was worrisome and that steps must be taken to address them.
Giving statistics of incidents and arrests by the police in March, Adamu said there was a case of terrorism, 137 murder/culpable homicide, 20 armed robberies, 119 kidnappings, 19 cultism and 11 rape/sexual violence.
According to him, “Policemen killed are 15. I have not added the figures of (Tuesday, March 30) because we suffered some casualties. If I do that, we will have 20 policemen killed only in the month of March.
“The IG is worried by the new trend of crimes and criminality in the country and has taken several steps to arrest the situation including deployment of additional tactical teams of the force drawn from the special forces of the police who are trained to counter insurgency and prevent violent situations.
“They have been deployed to troubled states across Nigeria to assist the police on ground.
“These measures are yielding positive results because we have been able to record some arrests and of course, those arrested will face the law.
“Within the period under review (March), we have 79 murderers, 113 armed robbers, 124 kidnappers and 13 cultists who are already in the net. 102 arms and 13, 402 ammunition were recovered. 205 kidnapped victims were rescued by the police across the nation.”
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