IG’s panel to destroy 10,000 recovered illegal firearms, others

Inspector-General (IG) Ibrahim Idris has set up a committee to destroy 10,000 illegal firearms and 26,000 ammunition recovered from members of the public.

The arms were recovered during the mop-up operations of illegal firearms and prohibited weapons announced by the IG earlier this year.

The committee, which would be headed by the DIG in charge of Operations, Habila Joshak, has representatives from United Nations (UN) organs, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Presidential Committee on Prohibition of Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM).

Members of the committee are expected to destroy the weapons before the 2019 general elections.

Idris spoke yesterday during the monthly meeting with senior Police officers.

The IG also described the actions of the El-Zakzaky Islamic Movement of Nigeria members as un-Islamic.

He said: “I have set up a committee headed by the DIG Department of Operations comprising the United Nations Organs, the ECOWAS and the Presidential Committee on Prohibition of Small Arms and Light Weapons (PRESCOM) and other critical stakeholders for the destruction of illegal weapons retrieved from members of the public before the 2019 General Election.

“They will destroy about 10,000 illegal firearms and prohibited weapons and over  26,000 illegal ammunition recovered in the mop-up operations of illegal firearms and prohibited weapons  currently ongoing throughout the country.”

The IG warned that the Force would longer tolerate negligence on the part of Commissioners of Police in preventing crisis.

He urged them to be proactive in dealing with crises, noting that much is expected from them before, during and after the general elections.

He said: “The Government and the people expect much from us in ensuring security and safety of all Nigerians throughout the country as we go into the 2019 general elections.

“The Force will no longer tolerate laxity on the part of any Commissioner of Police, who fails to be proactive in dealing with crisis and other violent crimes in their area of responsibilities (AOR).

“We have to do more in ensuring adequate security throughout the country from now on to the election and beyond.”

On the crisis in the FCT caused by members of the El-Zakzaky Islamic Movement of Nigeria, the IG said: “Most of the El-Zakzaky Islamic Movement of Nigeria’s members were arrested with hard drugs in their possession and these are people that claimed to be Islamic. This makes us to start thinking and questioning them.

“These youths have been used to cause havoc and I think the group should just be called El-Zakzaky because I don’t see anything Islamic about them.

“These are people who are trying to bring problem of security to the country and the strategies applied by the police were the best.

“I think our actions are commendable because our confrontation with them has not led to any death and that was because we were trying to avoid using too much force in tackling the situation.

“Our response has to be measured because these are Nigerians who are misguided.  So, we need to apply strategies to handle them.”

The IG added that some of them would be charged to court for terrorism.