- Sets up Joint Investigation Panel, with police
The Nigerian Army on Wednesday responded to the killings of four police officers during exchange of fire on the Takum road, in Taraba State, describing it as a case of mistaken identity.
Troops of the 93 Battalion Nigerian Army Takum had pursued and exchanged fire with some suspected Kidnappers who turned out to be an Intelligence Response Team from the Police Force Headquarters Abuja, on a covert assignment from Abuja, resulting in the death and injury of some members of the Team.
The Acting Director of Army Relations Col. Sagir Musa in a statement on the development said the army was merely responding to a distress call to rescue a kidnapped victim from suspected kidnappers along the Ibi-Wukari road, in Taraba State.
According to him, the suspected kidnappers numbering 10 and driving in a white bus with
Reg No LAGOS MUS 564 EU refused to stop when they were halted by troops at three consecutive check points. The flagrant refusal of the suspected kidnappers to stop at the three checkpoints prompted a hot pursuit of the fleeing suspects by the troops. It was in this process that the suspected kidnappers who were obviously armed opened fire at the troops sporadically thus prompting them to return fire, he said.
“In the resultant fire fight, four suspects were shot and they died on the spot while four others sustained various degrees of gunshot wounds and two others reportedly missing. It was only after this avoidable outcome that one of the wounded suspects disclosed the fact that they were indeed policemen dispatched from Nigerian Police, Force Headquarters, Abuja for a covert assignment.
“However, following inquiries from a Police Station officer who was asked by the commander of the Army troops whether he was aware of any Nigerian Police team being dispatched to operate in the LGA, the Divisional Police Officer of Ibi Police Division responded that he was not informed about any operation by the Nigerian Police Force Headquarters thus lending credence to the distressed call from members of the community that the suspects who turned out to be Policemen on a covert mission were rather suspected kidnappers.”
The statement said the untoward incident could have been avoided had there been proper coordination and liaison between the police and the army, as the two are partners in the fight against crimes such as kidnapping amongst myriads of other internal security threats confronting our nation.
“In order to avert future occurrences of this nature, the Army Headquarters and the Force Headquarters of the Nigerian Police have agreed to constitute a Joint lnvestigation Panel to be headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation Department, DIG Mike Ogbizi, to jointly investigate and report on the true circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident. Therefore, until the Joint Investigation Panel concludes and submits its report, it will be premature to officially conclude and speak on the real circumstances that caused this unfortunate but very avoidable unfortunate incident.