MAN WHO LED KILLING OF TSARAGI PEOPLE WAS NAB BY KWARA POLICE

THE Kwara State police command has arrested mastermind of alleged killing of five men in Tsaragi, Edu local government area of Kwara State, early this month.

It is recalled that the killing of Nupe and Tsaragi people, resident at Obadare village in Share community, was hitherto described as communal clash killing in some quarters.

The death of the victims, identified as Aliyu Issah, Muhmini, Alhaji Saba, Madu Issa and Kadiri, reportedly, created panic again in the two communities, leading the state government to immediately impose a dusk to dawn curfew on them.

But Commissioner of Police, Mr Olusola Amore, who disclosed the arrest of the mastermind of the killings in Ilorin on Wednesday, said the man, from Share, in Ifelodun local government area, had carried out the act with five of his friends, now at large, in revenge against the killing of his brother and destruction of their property last year during the violent clash between Tsaragi and Share communities.

The police boss, who said his command had established a 12-man Eminent Persons Group from the two communities to handle issues relating to the recurring conflict between them, absolved the people of Share in the latest killings, adding that the suspect in police custody had told investigators that he was on a lone mission to revenge a perceived wrong.

“You people reported recently that five people were killed in Tsaragi. Well we have been able to arrest the ring leader of that dastardly act. We also recovered all the guns they used. Five others are on the run but we have the ring leader with us.

“The person arrested is from Share community. He felt that he was wronged by the killing of his brother and destruction of their property during the December clash between them and the people of Tsaragi. He alone called for his friends and went on the revenge mission. They were never backed by the community and that is why you notice it happened when there was no disagreement between the two communities.

“We have been able to manage the conflict between the two communities to a very considerable level. We have set up a 12-man Eminent Persons Committee; six from each side and they are going to be meeting with the police regularly on issues about the two communities,” he said.

The commissioner who later on inaugurated a larger eminent persons’ forum to fight crime in the state, said security is not the business of the police but that of all stakeholders.

“That is when the first time I came to the state, I said that my style of policing is community oriented police. That members of the community would be involved in the way they are policed and it is for this reasons that I asked all the District Police Officers and myself to write their numbers in all the police stations and the police headquarters,” he added.