Nigerian police step-up their patrols as tensions mount inside the country. An escalation of violence has erupted in various regions of the oil-rich state.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Saturday, 01 January 2011 00:00
By Odita Sunday (Lagos) and Njadvara Musa (Maiduguri) News
AFTER a four-hour gun battle with suspected members of Boko Haram, the joint police/military taskforce yesterday arrested an alleged financier of the group, Alhaji Bunu Wakil and 91 other persons.
Also, in Lagos, the state police commissioner, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo assured that members of Boko Haram would not be able to operate in the state.
The Borno State Police Commissioner, Mohammed Abubakar, told The Guardian on Saturday in a telephone interview on Thursday night that the arrests were made between the hours of 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. at the suspects’ various hideouts in Maiduguri.
He said the arrests were made after a very fierce gun battle with the armed members, and that the policemen and soldiers chased them to their respective hideouts. He said most of them lived among residents of Maiduguri, who were very much ignorant of the activities and motives of the outlawed Boko Haram sect against security personnel and state government.
He said before their arrests, the police and soldiers had to rely on some individuals that volunteered to give information on the hideouts and activities of the feared sect.
He said it took the collective efforts of policemen and soldiers on foot and vehicles to smash the over two-dozen hideouts of sect members.
With the arrest of the suspects, including their financiers, the police will continue with the stop and search exercise and the restrictions placed on the movement of motorcycles and taxis.
He said all the arrested suspects were conveyed last night to Abuja for interrogation and further investigation, until the brains behind the Moslem sect are uncovered by the police to restore peace and security of lives and property in the metropolis and Northeast sub-region of the country.
Akpoyibo, told reporters in Lagos: “I don’t want anybody to spread rumours in Lagos and cause unnecessary panic. We have no Boko Haram in Lagos State. I don’t want anybody to invent something that is strange, destructive and scaring. We should abandon rumour mongering. In Lagos, we are peace-loving people, we don’t believe in destruction of lives and properties. So, if such things happen elsewhere, it does not follow that it must happen in Lagos. We are very security conscious, every Lagosian’s eyes are open.”
The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) had raised the alarm over an alleged infiltration of the Mile 12 Market in Lagos by the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
The OPC Founder, Dr. Frederick Fasheun had narrated how a minor disagreement between two executive members in the market, Alhaji Haruna Muhammed and Alhaji Ibrahim Mamuda, led to an invasion of the market by members of the sect on December 6, during which over 20 people were injured.
According to the OPC leader, the Boko Haram members (allegedly linked to one of the two warring market leaders, Mamuda) attacked those loyal to the other party, Muhammed first at midnight on December 6, with machetes, swords and other dangerous weapons.They returned the following night to burn down the old office of the union located inside the market.
Fasheun implored the Lagos State government and other security agencies in the state to beef up security at the market to avoid inter-tribal clash that occurred in the market seven years ago when the Hausa and the Yoruba clashed.
“We know the importance of this market to the economic development of the South-West. Besides, the market is on the soil of the South-West Nigeria, and we have to avert what happened then and protect the interest of the market women and men in there,” he said.
The Lagos police boss also noted that his officers and men were prepared to ensure a hitch-free voter registration exercise in the state.
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