28 Cops Found Alive As Death Toll Hits 43 In Nasarawa Attack On Policemen

SLAIN-POLICEMEN

Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, on Friday confirmed that the death toll from the May 7 attack on policemen by a militia had risen to 43. Al-Makura gave the revised death toll when he received a delegation from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), who came to help in the search and rescue effort for victims.

Air Commodore Charles Otegbade, Director of Search and Rescue, NEMA, said the team was in the state to assess the situation and report back for proper intervention as well as to provide immediate relief to families of the victims.

Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Abayomi Akeremale, however confirmed that 28 policemen have been found alive. He said the 28 policemen were held hostage, but released today.

According to him, 17 corpses of the slain officers were yet to be recovered. He explained that a total of 93 policemen were deployed for the operation out of which 43 were suspected to have been killed.

Akeremale said a member of the militia group has been arrested.

Governor Al-Makura said the ambush on policemen was an act of sabotage by the group, which might have infiltrated the ranks of security operatives in the state.

According to him, the government made efforts prior to the operation, to invite the leader of the group, “but he refused to honour the invitation to explain some of the activities of the sect.”

He said the security agencies had been on the trail of the leader for months and had to take drastic action in order to check the excesses of the group.

“If we leave the group to continue infringing on people’s rights by forcing them to take concoction in order to initiate them into their fold, it would degenerate into a religious crisis.

“That is the justification for the action we took, unfortunately, we were betrayed by saboteurs,” the governor said.

He said the killing was unacceptable and that the government would do all within its power to bring the perpetrators to justice.

8 COMMENTS

  1. Almakura should be thoroughly investigated!
    He obviously has a hand in this issue including the police commissioner to have deployed troops without prior investigations, briefing & minority reports.
    Instead he was @Abuja reporting issues yet to be happen as reports indicate.
    We all know that skirmishes of intense magnitude has been on over a year between fulanis aligned with other minority tribes, & the governor was quiet when wanton destruction of Eggon settlements were being carried out!
    Justice should be served!
    Pls the media should be objective in their reportage to sufficiently capture the truth.

  2. Here go again… Sentimental fools, will, n forever live in deir world of abject speculations. u comfortably sit in ur shagged cocoon n suggest whom might suit ur retarded imagination ! Analitically, tell us hw Fulani, Buhari, Babangida came 2 these… If u don’t av solutions, s-h-u-t up !! dnt compound our already over-bloated crisis.let us b.

    • You are a complete illitrate on what is goin on in Nasarawa state.
      If u are current, you ll rememba dat the fulanis attacked bassa village in keffi, and because the fulanis are always attackin and causing problems to their host communities (possibly ur village too) the eggon communities decided to sweep them out completely from their communities. The governor den harboured dem in his village which is very close to the eggon land. Ask him what did he do to them for the attack they did in bassa and other eggon communities? Nothing!
      Now the fulanis still left their rehab camp from his village and attacked eggon communities at their reach (aridi, barkin abdulahi, and other places) and went back to the camp in his village. The millitary guarding the camp claimed they did not know when the fulanis were leaving the camp to go for d attack (can u bliv dat?). Ask the governor what he did 2 dem 4 d second attack when evidence was very clear? Nothing!!
      Threats were still coming from the camp and since the youths now know d source of their problems, they decided to go and fix it which involve attacking his hometown where he harboured their threats. They defended and protected their communities since d security agents cannot.
      Now d ombatse group came to limelight, to protect all eggon communities within d state against all external attack being witnessed and to cleanse the society from any social vices which involve the ancestoral way of doin it and it was accepted by evry community (both children, youths, married people so d gov is lieing about forced conversion by d group, u can research about it) bcos it promotes unity and coperation among the people and was d solution to d eggon nation problem.
      Now other ethnic groups bcos they are guilty of injustice against the eggons, are now pressurizing d governor to destroy d group and d gov wants dat too. The group has made it clear 2d governor dat dey re not 2 cause trouble when there is none bt only 2 defend and protect their communities.

      Now the governor kept on opposing the group with security agencies and now he has caused the peaceful group to turn wild since d security has been attacking them wit force. He is responsible 4 d death of those police officers (i strongly bliv he compelled dem into d operation), and he should answer y should he send dem wit ammunition and look at their number. So they were ready to face war bt it was unfortunate that they lost and eventually many were killed.
      There was no war, den y wuld d gov send ova 100 police wit arms to attack people who normally are in their homes, and only show up 4 resistance during crises? They dcided 2 resist attack violently bcos d gov has pushed dem 2d wall.
      The governor and some politicians are fighting for their selfish reasons and d gov is now using the death of these policemen he caused to portray the group as terrorist and gain support of the FG. I call on evry interested individual especially journalist 2 research n confirm all what i have wrote cos dis is the plain truth!

      And I hope u enjoyd d lesson.

  3. Well,journalist must not be one sided about what is on in that state.from my finding from the indigent people,i discover dat Ombatse group are never a militia,but a group that is out to defend eggon nation fro external aggressors especially fulani-hausas who keep attacking eggon communities without help fro the government of the day.
    Is soo painful to see innocent policemen bn killed like dis.
    My concern is why should this no of force men be used in arresting one man who they kno well dat is very diabolical?

  4. @ me I read a. Story dis monin about one bein judjmntal wtout knowin d cause of an event. I think nigerians shld b more told on real circumstnc and nt d one paintd by d govnor or journalist. Hwever d killin of d security forces is uncalled for.