Herdsmen: Police Faults DSS Report On Islamic State Fighters in Nigera

The police on Monday said it was too early to conclude that members of the Islamic State in West Africa were responsible for the violent attacks and bloodshed in Benue State and other North Central states.

This runs contrary to the reports by the Department of State Services and other security agencies that Islamic State fighters were responsible for the killings.

The reports said the fighters have arrived the country with the aim of killing in the North Central and South South geopolitical zones.

But the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Joshak Habila, said on Monday in a telephone interview with The PUNCH that the police would not attribute the killings to anyone or group, but would instead go after the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
Habila told The PUNCH: “Investigation would show (ISWA involvement in the killings).

“It is too early to draw a conclusion, but whatever it is, the truth is everybody who is committing crime would be arrested and so, we don’t want to harp on anybody, group or organisation to make it difficult to process, but a criminal is a criminal.”

When asked if the DSS shared its intelligence report on ISWA with the police, Habila said he was not sure, but hinted that the secret service might have shared it with his boss, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.

He said: “They (DSS) normally share, it’s a deep collaboration, they may have done so, but not at my level, I’m on the ground (in Benue). The report would be properly analysed and sent to me.”