The Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ben Igweh, has said that the police is going to hunt down and prosecute the members of the Shi’ite movement who, according to him, attacked and killed police officers unprovoked on Sunday.

Igweh said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Sunday night, where he also debunked claims from members of the Shi’ite movement who said that they were attacked by police officers.

He said, “The Shi’ite movement has been proscribed. They don’t have right of procession, and they don’t have right of assembly. As far as law is concerned, they are not in existence. So, what happened today, they just came into, because they will trickle in one by one as if to say they want to go and pray in the mosque, they will be trickling in. Before you know in, one-one, two-two, before you know it they have gathered, and they have already had their plans. You can’t believe that these people that came here, it’s a coordinated act. They have already agreed to attack security agencies, I can authoritatively tell you that. And that’s what they came to do, and they successfully, unprovoked.”

The Commissioner then said that the police had received intelligence that the Shi’ite movement will come in on Saturday, however, the protests happened on Sunday, which led to the alleged attacks on police officers, as he said, “We were very very proactive. Today is Sunday, they were supposed to come in yesterday, according to information we had, we know what we did to stop them from entering FCT, that was yesterday. So today, they had to trickle in on by one, wearing ordinary dress, but they will see them carry bag, some hide their dresses inside.

“So, they will be gathering like people who want to go and pray in different mosques. Before you know it, they have formed a quorum and they will be on the road. So, you don’t know the difference between somebody that is going to pray, and somebody who is wearing this their dresses. Meanwhile, they have been proscribed, but today, there was no provocation.

“If they bring any person that was attacked or killed by any security agency, I will know that the person is telling lies, because no such thing happened. It’s them that attacked security agencies, and their dead bodies are there in the mortuary, all of them, including the women police. For what? Unprovoked. And that is why I said from today, they’re not going to go unpunished. I’m going to hunt them wherever they are in Nigeria.”

Listing the casualties on the side of police, Igweh said, “We lost two policemen, four are in danger at least now as we’re talking. So, may God help, let the four, including the woman police, may they survive. If they didn’t survive- because if you see how they hit them, they shoot them gun, if you see the stabbings, I can forward it to you. If any of them said that anything happened to any of them, let them come forward.”

However, he ascertained that the residents of the FCT are safe, saying, “My happiness is that this one is not pure criminals if not the attack on police. It’s not armed robbery, it’s not kidnapping, it’s not banditry, these ones are pure terrorists, targeted terrorists, they’re targeted on security agencies, that’s the police, that is where their target is. So, residents of the FCT have been sleeping with their two eyes closed, we’ll continue to ensure that. I have mobilised purely without fear or favour. We have mobilised fully, their security is very assured.” (AriseNews TV)

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