The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, has said the bandits operating in Nigeria’s Northwest region are Boko Haram and ISWAP members.
Speaking on Wednesday during a meeting with top Police Commanders over recent attacks in Kaduna state, the IGP said the renewed attacks need new war strategies geared towards eliminating the bandits from their hideouts in the nook and crannies of the zone.
The police boss added that it is important to ensure that peace and security are restored while imploring the officers to show commitment in the fight against criminality in the region.
“I decide to come to Kaduna to interact with the senior officers and on our activities within the state on the strategies that we have put in place and review it, in view of the fact that we know there are some bandits, members and elements of Boko Haram around the state and that necessitated our effort to root them out.
“That is why on the 5th of February, we had to go to the forest where all these bandits are and we were able to root them out. On the 21st of February, in collaboration with another sister organization the Airforce, we were able to enter some of their camps and uprooted them.
“This is a constant strategy that we put in place so that we go to the forest where these bandits are and root them out.
“We are not relenting. I am here to re-access our strategy in view of the fact that we noticed or we are experiencing attacks by the bandits on specific villages in Igabi and Giwa Local Government.
“What happened should not have happen and we would never allow it to happen again. I have been briefed about some of the things that happened that opened up channels for the bandits to attack those villages and we will block those chances and they will never have the opportunity to do it again.”
He called on members of the public to cooperate with the police by providing adequate information in order to halt the menace.
Similarly, he urged policemen to sustain the tempo of going into the bandits’ camps and forest to root them out until the terrain is secured.
Daily Trust reports that the IGP’s meeting with the senior police officers is coming after Sunday’s attack by bandits in five villages in Giwa and Igabi local government areas of Kaduna state where over 51 people were killed and several others injured.
