The Inspector-General of Police denied that over 300 people were killed by Fulani herdsmen in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State. The herdsmen were reported to have invaded towns in the area from 23 February and massacred dozens of people over several days.
Police chief Arase said in Minna, Niger State: “I was around, I travelled to Makurdi, I did not see where 300 people were buried. If you kill, you don’t just bury, you must take the corpse to the police station before you bury, we don’t have that number of people”.
Arase failed to tell anyone how many were killed. His comments provide official confirmation that the Nigerian Police Force is a terrible joke. One death alone requires police investigation in order to establish the cause and identify suspects. But we have a case of multiple deaths here and the most senior officer in the country appears to be saying that there was no investigation.
He was expecting the relatives of the dead to bring the bodies to police stations before his officers would bother to get off their behinds at the station, visit the crime scene and investigate the crime. Where were the police at the time the mass murders were being committed? The fact that he was not even embarrassed to make make those comments demonstrates how dysfunctional the police force is. From top to bottom, there is clearly no idea about the basics of policing.
Arase and colleagues believe their jobs begin and end with protecting VIPs and any other rich Nigerian that can pay them to provide security. After all, the police chief is always at the airport to “welcome” President Muhammadu Buhari on his return from his many junkets abroad. This is probably how Arase believes he can satisfy the president that he is doing is job. Protecting ordinary Nigerians and investigating crimes committed against them just don’t figure in Arase’s understanding of his job description.
The president said in a statement after the Agatu massacre: “We will conduct an investigation to know exactly what happened; the only way to bring an end to the violence once and for all is to look beyond one incident and ascertain exactly what factors are behind the conflicts.”
Arase’s comments clearly show that there will be no proper investigation into what happened. They will just wait for bodies to be brought to police stations, in the absence of which, they can conclude that nobody died. The police can go back to their main duties of providing security for VIPs, while Arase continues with his sentry duty at the airport whenever Buhari returns from gallivanting abroad. That’s the “work” by which Buhari would judge whether Arase is fit for office.
As Michael Jackson would have put it: “All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us”.
