The Irigwe people of Bassa local government area of Plateau State, central Nigeria have condemned a press statement by the police public relations officer ASP Ubah Gabriel Ogaba which blamed Irigwe youths for the attack on commuters along Rukuba road of Jos north leading to the death of 23 persons.
A statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of Irigwe development association, Davidson Malison, said Rukuba road is cosmopolitan in nature as such singling out Irigwe youths as perpetrators of the act is suspect and unprofessional as the conclusion was arrived at without proper investigations noting that the Rigwe people respect and value human life.
The statement adds that the Police PRO was sentimental, biased and unprofessional in his statement as the prompt and swift ethnic inclination or attachment is not only a display of partiality in the act of discharging duty but a demonstration of nonobjectivity, sidedness, partisanship and prejudice against Rigwe people.
Davidson Malison said the Irigwe people were burying and mourning 6 out of 70 of their dead killed in three weeks of attacks on the community and had no part in the attack by criminal elements and called on the Police Commissioner and General Officer Commanding three armoured divisions of the Nigeria army to also make public identities of persons arrested in connection with the killing of three women on their farms on 10th August 2021.
They are asking the Police Command to withdraw the statement which they believe is capable of tarnishing and ruining the image of Rigwe people at the same time advised the Police and other Security Agencies to channel their energy and time in devising means of arresting those responsible for unleashing terrors on the people rather than profiling a peaceful tribe with criminality.
Davison Malison in the press statement sympathised with families of those killed in the unfortunate incident and prayed for healing for those injured, he appreciated security agencies for rising to the occasion to curtain the violence and called on Irigwe people to remain peaceful and law-abiding.
Nnenna.O
