- Urges Security Agencies to fish out Killers, Masterminds of Sit – at -Home Order
- President Bola Tinubu has urged security agencies in the country to go after the masterminds of the attack in Abia which led to the killing of five soldiers last Thursday.
In a statement on Saturday, the president also directed the security agencies to fish out those who are responsible for the order and enforcement of Sit – at – home in the South East.
The soldiers were on a peace keeping mission in Aba when they were attacked by gunmen who were reportedly enforcing the sit-at-home directive of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the state.
The gunmen opened fire on a military checkpoint at Obikabia junction in Aba, killing the soldiers and setting their patrol vehicles ablaze.
The statement reads ,
“Our soldiers and the police have the onerous duty to protect all of us from aggressors and non-state actors. Hundreds of them have paid the ultimate price in fulfilment of their duty, while some have experienced the indignity of being manhandled by the people they protect,”
“They surely do not deserve the mindless attacks by unruly elements in our society.”
President Tinubu assured that those who are in the habit of taking the lives of state agents will not go unpunished .
“The federal government will come down heavily against those who have made it a habit to needlessly attack the officers and men of our armed forces,”
“On no account should anyone, under any guise, have the audacity to kill agents of state.
“I want to make it clear that the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the armed forces have the capacity to crush violent non-state actors, making our communities unsafe.
“I urge security agencies not only to fish out the masterminds and perpetrators of the Aba attack but also those calling on people to stay at home. Their action is nothing but a treasonable offence.
“The fact that the security forces are exercising necessary restraints should not be mistaken for weakness.”
While sympathising with the families of the slain soldiers and the entire armed forces, the president urged officers on peacekeeping duty not to be discouraged by the unfortunate incident in Aba.
The Aba incident came two months after a similar attack in Okuama, community in Delta State where seventeen personnel of the Nigerian Army were killed by youths..
