Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Abu Ibrahim, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to investigate if fleeing remnants of Boko Haram insurgents and displaced soldiers from Libya were involved in the Benue State killings.
Ibrahim who represents Katsina South Senatorial District told reporters in Abuja that probing the possibility of Boko Haram and Libyan elements involvement in the gruesome killings in Benue State may give a lead to what happened.
He said the investigation becomes imperative because a “normal Fulani herdsman is not known to carry AK47 riffle.”
Ibrahim said: “We have to seriously investigate this. A normal Fulani man is not known to carry AK47. The security agencies should probe whether the defeated Boko Haram insurgents were involved; whether the Gaddafi phenomenon has spilled over to Nigeria. It should be considered whether displaced Libyan soldiers had a hand in what happened because it is not easy to acquire AK47.”
To douse rising tension, the lawmaker said he had discussed the unfortunate development in Benue State with the Senators representing Benue North West, George Akume and Barnabas Gemade, representing Benue North East.
He insisted that “in the meantime, we have to control the killings, if we allow it to continue other external variables may creep in to complicate issues.”
On the relocation of Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris, to Benue State and the deployment of soldiers to the state, he noted that no stone would be left unturned to address the Benue crisis.
For him, “The police officers are doing their utmost best and with the deployment of soldiers and heavy police presence, they should be able to be on top of the situation to ensure that normalcy returns to the state.”
Ibrahim said President Muhammadu Buhari had taken full control of the situation and constantly briefed about developments in the area.
The President, he said, had formulated a coordinated template to solve the problem involving the police, army, Ministry of Agriculture and the state government.
Ibrahim who is seen as President Buhari’s right hand man dismissed the insinuation that the president is not interested in what is happening in Benue State because the herders are Fulani like him.
He said, “It is not true because the president has taken steps to bring the situation under control. He has deployed soldiers in Benue State, he ordered the Inspector General of Police to relocate to Benue. He as taken other measures that may not be for public consumption.
“It is wrong for any bod to say that the President is not interested in what happened in the state. When the President saw that the police effort was not bringing expected result, he promptly deployed soldiers.”
