The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, on Friday gave reasons why suspects of Yoruba extraction were arrested over the recent clash between Yoruba and Hausa communities in Ile-Ife, Osun State, which resulted in the death of about 46 persons.
He said crime neither had tribe nor identity.
Idris spoke with State House correspondents shortly after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the security situation in parts of the country.
The police have been the subject of criticism for arresting and parading 20 Yoruba persons, including a monarch, over the clash while not a single Hausa/Fulani person was detained, even though both groups involved in the clash were said to have had casualties.
The pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere; and the Oodua People’s Congress are among groups and individuals that have been criticising the police over the development.
The OPC had on Thursday, in a statement by its founder, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, given the Federal Government and the police 48 hours to arrest the Hausa/Fulani persons involved in the crisis.
Idris, however, defended the action of the police, saying crime had no tribes.
He said the police would not hesitate to apply the law once criminal cases were established against individuals, irrespective of their tribes.
He said, “You know we are police officers. Crime has no tribe. If you are a criminal, you are a criminal.
“Crime has no face. We don’t look at crime in the identity of where you are coming from.
“As far as you are a criminal and the police find you wanting, we apply the law.”
He said investigation had revealed that the crisis started with a disagreement between two people selling food along the road.
On the massacre in Zaki Biam, Benue State, Idris said he had deployed police special units to arrest one of the men declared wanted in connection with the case.
“We have deployed Mobile Police Unit on 16th of this month and of recent that incident that happened at Zaki Biam, there are allegations on that Gana, one of the wanted men.
“This man has been on the police wanted list and I have decided to deploy some special unit to go after him and get him by all means.
“Like I said earlier, definitely, we are going to get that man,” he said.
Idris also said the latest attack was not carried out by Fulani herdsmen.
“No, I don’t think it was Fulani herdsmen. It was an activity of a criminal using some of his criminal gangs in the state to harass people,” he added.
The police boss also said the crisis in Kogi State was not about kidnapping.
He said it was a case of militants who were bent on disrupting the peace of the state.
He promised that the police would handle the situation.
Idris said he used the opportunity of his meeting with Buhari to update him on police’s efforts to ensure security across the country.
He said, “The meeting was to share with the President our deployment strategies on the ground; our deployment in some of these flashpoints all over the country, especially Benue, which is the current one.
“We also talked about deployment in Kaduna State, which started some few weeks back and deployment in Ile-Ife, where we have a lot of police officers. Special squads and investigation team are on the ground to conduct investigation on the matter.”
The police boss said the President directed him to ensure that all facilities at police’s disposal were used to make sure that the security challenges were brought under control as soon as possible.
He said he assured the President that he would ensure that was done.