Police chiefs meet over security threat

Posted by admin Headlines, Nigerian Police Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

THE police high commands in Abuja and Jos yesterday held an urgent security meeting to address the renewed security threat, which led to the latest killing of citizens in Jos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) after a series of bomb explosions.

The meeting came after one person was killed in Jos the Plateau State capital during the ongoing voters’ registration.
Already, soldiers patrolling Nigeria’s volatile central region have received a shoot-to-kill order after a mob killed the election worker and set his body on fire, an army spokesman said yesterday.

The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) confirmed the meeting of the top police chiefs to The Guardian yesterday.
The police spokesman explained that the Force was working very hard to stop the crisis and other forms of terrorism in all parts of the country especially to ensure the smooth conduct of the elections.

The crisis that broke out in Jos on Monday affected some security operatives and workers of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) who were performing their official obligation.

The Guardian further learnt that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Abubakar Hafiz Rigim, has ordered the deployment of more policemen to ensure better security at all the voters’ registration centres.

The death on Monday in Jos, a flashpoint of religious tension between Nigeria’s two dominant religions, comes as technical problems continue to plague the nation’s effort to register 70 million eligible voters before a crucial April polls.

The new orders in Jos allow soldiers to kill anyone trying to hurt another person or destroy a home, church or mosque in the city and surrounding areas, Capt. Charles Ekeocha said. The military has been a dominant presence in the city since violence began there last year that has left more than 500 dead.

“The best option is to make sure you stop the person,” Ekeocha told The Associated Press. “Even if it means taking the person’s life, it is OK.”

The attack on Monday began after election workers decided to move a registration point without informing the joint military and police task force in the city, the captain said.

Witnesses to the attack said another two persons died when soldiers opened fire to try and protect the other voters’ registration workers nearby. The military has denied shooting into the mob, though soldiers have shot and killed civilians before over the past year.

The worker was a member of the National Youth Service Corps, a required yearlong programme for higher institutions’ graduates in the oil-rich nation. The government created the programme in 1973 as a means to bridge the religious, regional and ethnic divisions in Nigeria after its brutal civil war ended in 1970. Those divisions persist today.

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