Police haven’t forgotten Alakyo, Gwoza – IGP
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, has declared that the police authorities have not forgotten the May 7, 2013 incident in Alakyo, in Nasarawa State where 64 officers and men of the force were ambushed and killed alongside 10 operatives of the secret service. The IGP also said the police have […]
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, has declared that the police authorities have not forgotten the May 7, 2013 incident in Alakyo, in Nasarawa State where 64 officers and men of the force were ambushed and killed alongside 10 operatives of the secret service.The IGP also said the police have sustained the search to secure the safe return of its men who were found missing after the August 20 attack on the Police Mobile Force Training Camp in Gwoza, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents.
He spoke to newsmen at the Mobile Police (MOPOL) 38, also known as Tiger Squadron in Akwanga from where the 64 policemen who were killed in Alakyo, and some of the 35 policemen missing after the Gwoza invasion were drawn. The IGP was in Akwanga on a one-day visit to widows of slain policemen and wives of the missing ones. He was accompanied by top police officers including the state commissioner of police, Yukubu Usman, and the Commissioner of Police in charge of Mobile Police, Ibrahim Idris who was recently posted out of Nasarawa.
The IGP, who disbursed the sum of N7.740 million to 98 relatives and dependent of the slain policemen and those missing, as well as some food stuff as part of the festivities, said the police have not forgotten their husbands, and will go after the perpetrators to give the fallen heroes justice.
He said his visit to Akwanga was an answer to questions of whether the policce have forgotten Alakyo, although he said his appointment came at a time the force was facing serious challenges including preparations for 2015 general elections.
“Even at the height of that (challenges), I still found time to come which is an indication that they are not forgotten. And let me assure you even my successors whom I believe are professional police officers will not forget them,” he said of the Alakyo incident.
On Gwoza, he said: “Without mincing of words, and with due consideration to status of my office; I want to say that we mean every word we have said. The search continues, the hope is still there very alive. And we are with the families. Not quite three months ago, one of them (missing policemen) surfaced and reported to his office.”
He said the police cannot declare them dead because there are no evidences that they were killed.
“Let me tell you, dead or alive, we will continue with the search.”
Both widows of the slain policemen, and wives of the missing operatives expressed gratitude to the IGP for the visit and welfare package.