avenging Wednesday’s killing of their men by a cult group in
Nasarawa State.
Olubolade gave the warning in Abuja yesterday while rising from the emergency security
meeting held by President Goodluck Jonathan and the service chiefs.
The meeting, which started at 3.00pm and ended at 4.15pm, was attended by
Olubolade himself, the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki; Chief
of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Saad Ibrahim; Chief of Naval staff, Vice Admiral
Dele Ezeoba; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal
Badeh; Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar;
Director General of the State Security Service, Ita Ekpenyong; while the Chief
of Army Staff, Lt Geneneral Azubuike Ihejirika was represented by his Chief of
Policy and Plans, Major General Emmanuel Bassey,.
Although the security chiefs after the meeting refused to talk to journalists,
the IG, wearing a black arm band as a sign of mourning, merely described the
killing of his men as very sad, saying “we’re working on it”.
Earlier while briefing State House correspondents about the meeting, the Police
Affairs Minister described it as an emergency security meeting conveyed at the
instance of the President.
He said Jonathan summoned the security agencies to see how to tame the rising
insecurity in the country.
On the fears that the police might avenge the killings of their colleagues in
Nasarawa, the minister said doing so would not douse the tension,
but cause lack of confidence in the system.
According to him, “the security agencies, particularly the police, will not
want to revenge. It’s not going to help us, because they are supposed to
protect lives and property. Revenge will not douse tension and it’ll bring
about lack of confidence in the system. So, we strictly discourage that. “
The minister, who said he could not confirm that the slain security officers
first killed nine leaders of the cult group, added that if nothing had gone
wrong, the officers would not just do so, if at all they did.
“The police won’t just wake up and pick their (cultists’) leaders, if nothing
has gone wrong. The populace must know that anybody can be brought in by the
police for interrogation depending on the intelligence the police get and that
is what happens elsewhere,” he said.
On the state of emergency being called for in some northern states, he said
though those calling for it have the right to do so, the president would take a
decision on it in the end.
Olubolade described as misleading and unreliable, the position of the US that
the current security challenges could destabilize Nigeria.
