Benue: As Police Wake up from Slumber

Barely one week after President Bola Tinubu ordered the service chiefs and the Inspector General of Police (IG), Kayode Egbetokun, to arrest those behind the killings in Yelewata, Benue State, the IG last Tuesday announced that 28 persons have been arrested for the dastardly act.

During his visit to Benue State, President Tinubu had ordered the arrest of those who attacked the Yelewata community in the Guma Local Government Area (LGA).

“Kayode, how come no arrest has been made? I expect there should be an arrest of those criminals,” Tinubu had charged the IG during his visit to Benue.

But addressing a news conference in Abuja, the IG said the police had arrested 28 suspects and were on the trails of other suspects who participated in the heinous act.

While also assuring that the police were not overwhelmed, the IG clarified that out of the 28 arrested persons, two have been cleared as they were only used as bait to arrest the 26 suspected masterminds.

The swift action of the police after President Tinubu’s order deserves commendation. It shows that the police have the capacity to discharge their constitutional duties if they are determined.

However, why did the police wait for the president’s directive before performing their constitutional roles?

Does it mean that the police knew the killers in Benue, Plateau and other parts of the country but acted as if the killers were ghosts who vanished into the air after every attack?

Now that the police have started with Benue State, they should also extend the arrests to other parts of the country and ensure that those arrested are prosecuted. 

The announcement of the arrest of the 26 suspects should not be the last thing Nigerians would hear about the killers. They deserve to be regularly updated on their prosecution to a logical conclusion.

Finally, since the killers are not ghosts, the police should unmask their powerful sponsors and also tell Nigerians whether they are foreigners or Nigerians.