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Nigeria's police and army clash, president orders probe

By Edith Mutethya in Nairobi, Kenya | China Daily Global | Updated: 2019-08-09 20:24

Muhammadu Buhari, the president of Nigeria, has ordered Defence Headquarters to set up a special committee to investigate a clash between the army and police that took place on Wednesday evening in Ibi, Taraba which led to the deaths of three police officers and a civilian.

The soldiers opened fire at an undercover police team taking a man believed to be a kidnapping suspect to headquarters. The handcuffed kidnap suspect was set free by the soldiers and is now on the run.

Sagir Musa, acting director of Army Public Relations, said the unfortunate incident happened because the soldiers mistook the undercover police for kidnappers.

Musa said in a statement they were responding to a distress call to rescue a kidnapped victim when they clashed with the police team.

"The suspected kidnappers refused to stop when they were halted by troops at three consecutive checkpoints, prompting a hot pursuit. It was in this process that the suspected kidnappers who were obviously armed, opened fire at the troops sporadically thus prompting them to return fire," he said.

The police force has demanded justice for the killing of their colleagues, who they said were on legitimate criminal investigation activities to arrest Alhaji Hamisu, who has been indicted in a series of high-profile kidnapping incidents in Taraba.

In a statement signed by Frank Mba, public relations officer of the police force and posted on the social media, the police claimed that they identified themselves to the soldiers.

The police are demanding answers from the soldiers on the whereabouts of Hamisu. "Hamisu is a millionaire kidnapper arrested by the police but paradoxically treated as a 'kidnap victim' by the soldiers and subsequently 'rescued' by them. Where is he? Where is the rescued kidnapper?" the statement read.

The police are also demanding to know the source of the alleged distress report, or identity of the complainant.

Speaking to State House correspondents on Thursday while briefing them on the outcome of Thursday's national Security Council meeting, Sadique Abubakar, chief of Air Staff, assured Nigerians of their safety.

"We want to assure Nigerians the armed forces and other security agencies will continue to work to ensure the security of Nigerians and no individual or a group of individuals undermines the integrity and sovereignty of Nigeria," he said.

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