The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, on Friday justified the arrest of only people of Yoruba origin following the crisis in Ile Ife, Osun State, which led to the killing of no fewer than 46 persons.
The crisis was a clash between people of the Hausa and Yoruba ethnic stocks.
Speaking with State House Correspondents on Friday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Idris said the police was not biased with the arrests made so far.
Her said: “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.”
Idris expressed doubts about the involvement of Fulani herdsmen in the recent killings in Zaki Biam, Benue State.
He said indications point in the direction of a wanted hoodlum, Gana.
His words: “No, I don’t think it was an activity of Fulani herdsmen.
“It was an activity of a criminal who is using members of his criminal gang in the state to harass people.
“There are allegations that Gana, one of the wanted men, caused it.
“This man has been on the police wanted list.
“I decided to deploy some special units to go after him and get him by all means.
“Definitely we are going to get him.”
On his mission at the State House, Idris said: “I came to see the President to update him on the deployment of the police in our effort to ensure that we have security all over the country.
“Obviously, it was to share with him our deployment strategies on ground; our deployment to some of these flash points all over the country, especially Benue, which is the current one; deployment to Kaduna State, which started a few weeks ago; and deployment to the Ile-Ife crisis, where we have a lot of police officers, both the special squad and investigation team.”
Asked on the specific directives given to him by the President, Idris said: “Obviously, there should be a specific directive to ensure that all of us use all the facilities at our disposal to make sure that some of these incidents we are talking about are brought under control as soon as possible.
“I gave the President my assurance that we are going to do that.
“As I said earlier, we have deployed a special squad to Benue and we are surely going to get that Gana within a short time.”
Idris dismissed suggestions that the police have no strategy for fighting crimes in the country, saying: “You know some of these crises, we have to look at the immediate causes for you to make a proper classification of the crimes.
“If you followed some of these crimes, they were just crimes that happened without any warning.
“If you look at that Ife crisis, if you see how it started, it was just a disagreement between two people selling food along the road.
“So you have to look at the dynamics of the country itself.
“Obviously, when you have such a situation, we have to react to it.
“We have to move in to ensure we provide some security to the people.”
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