Details have emerged on how the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, discharged his duties after receiving a presidential directive, on January 9, to relocate to Benue State and redeploy Special Forces to arrest the mayhem in the North-Central state.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive followed the January 1 killings of over 73 villagers in Logo and Guma areas of the state, which sparked nationwide outrage.
According to insiders in security circles, the President had asked the IGP to focus on the farmers-herders attacks in Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Adamawa and Kaduna states, where repeated attacks had been reported.
One of the insiders said that the IGP did not disregard the directive of Buhari because he immediately moved to Makurdi and carried out the President’s instructions to the letter.
He said: “The president’s directive was not only to move to Benue, but to restore order and forestall further attacks on villagers by suspected herdsmen in all the areas affected. In doing this, he immediately redeployed forces to the most sensitive areas, and after due consultation with the governor and other stakeholders who accused the Nasarawa State governor of sponsoring militias to go and attack Benue people, the IGP had to visit Lafia, in Nasarawa, where he also addressed stakeholders.
“As he was moving to Nasarawa, he left a Deputy Inspector-General of Police behind in Benue. He arrived in Makurdi on January 10 and met with Governor Samuel Ortom on January 11. He also met with former governor, Mr Gabriel Suswam. He spent three days touring the state, and he held talks with Benue political and religious leaders. He also visited camps of the internally displaced persons in Logo Local Government Area and the trouble spot at Rijiim.
“He later moved to Nasarawa and spent some days there, then returned to Logo where people were killed. He addressed the IDPs there. He also moved to Donga in Nasarawa. He was criss-crossing the two states, and he only left there to attend the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, while the DIG stayed behind in Benue.”
A security analyst and former Director at the State Security Service, Mr Mike Ejiofor, had described the IGP’s actions as realistic.
He said that the DIG Operations remained in Benue to coordinate police activities in the area, while the IGP was away in Nasarawa.
Others also argued that the IGP couldn’t have sat down in Makurdi, because Makurdi was not the trouble spot.
The clarifications followed the President’s response to allegations during a town hall meeting in Makurdi, on Monday, that the IGP disobeyed his directive to relocate to Benue State during the herdsmen/farmers’ clashes.
