The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, said on Monday that he had deployed a team of homicide detectives to investigate the killings in some parts of Rivers State.
Arase vowed that the police would go after those involved in the killings in the state, describing a situation where some people take the law into their own hands as unacceptable.
The IGP, who spoke during his visit to Shell Petroleum Development Company in Port Harcourt, where he officially unveiled the new Spy Police uniform, explained that he had directed the state Police Command to go after the killers in the state.
Arase pointed out that the team of homicide investigators was deployed from Abuja, adding that some of the suspects arrested were being investigated.
He also stated that the proliferation of arms in the country was unacceptable, adding that the police would not allow hoodlums to overwhelm the state.
Arase said, “It is unacceptable for people to take the law into their own hands. This is not a Hobbesian state where might is right and I have told the Commissioner of Police that he must go after whoever that takes the life of anybody and ensure that such person is brought to book.
“Those arrested in connection with killings in Rivers are being investigated and I have dispatched a team of homicide investigators from Abuja. Whenever this thing happens, there are usually different perspectives to it.
“I have always taken a stand that the police are supposed to be apolitical. If we are going to be apolitical, we must be professional in investigating matters. That is why I have deployed a team of homicide investigators from Abuja to take over most of these cases.
“Nobody is above the law and that is one thing we have to get very clear. The law is no respecter of anybody. The proliferation of firearms in the system is unacceptable, not only in Rivers, but across the country.
“…Criminal gangs, cult groups can never overwhelm a state; it is never done and I can assure the people of this country that we are going to clamp down on these criminals. We will arrest them; we will make sure that we amputate them from our security landscape.”
Earlier, the Managing Director of SPDC, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, had said the Spy Police had grown from a small group patrolling pipelines’ right of way to a disciplined and well-structured arm of the Nigeria Police Force.
