Plateau Killings: Army parades 3 suspects in Jos

*As concerned citizens warn against running military down

“As far as we are concerned, the Nigerian military have lived up to their billing except any unpatriotic Nigerian wants to tell us what better way to go.  But let us warn the political elites, including those few who think they naturally own Nigeria by virtue of their being former rulers, to watch their tongues and stop running our military down.  The Army and other arms of armed forces we have seen so far under the Buhari’s administration are far better and patriotic professionals than we have had in recent years,” one of them who insisted on strict condition of anonymity considering the nature of issue at stake said.

The Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) of the Nigerian Army on Wednesday paraded 17 suspects allegedly connected to the multiple attacks which took place in Plateau State leaving more than 100 people dead and many more wounded.

Parading the suspects at the OPSH headquarters Jos, Media Officer of the command, Major Adam Umar said, “These suspects we are parading here are suspects arrested in connection to the last Saturday attack in Barkin Ladi local government of Plateau state on the 23rd of June, 2018.

“The suspects are in two categories; three of the suspects were in connection to the attack in Barkin Ladi, and the other 14 suspects are those arrested from the scene of protest and blockage of federal highways to protest the attack in Barkin Ladi.

“It was in the course of repelling the attackers by our men that these three suspects were arrested. When they saw our men coming after them, they threw away their guns and ran into the bushes. But our men went after them and threatened to shoot them if they did not surrender, that was how the three of them were arrested.

“And you know there was a civil disturbances that followed on 24th of June 2018 around Maraba Jamaa, Angludi and Bukuru axis, our men also stormed there to clear the roadblocks mounted by the protesters and these suspects participating in the civil disturbances were also arrested.

Asked whether the three suspected gunmen have confessed to the crime, Major Umar said, “No, we have not got to that level, the investigation is still on, this is a security matter, they are already giving us useful information that may lead us to arrest more suspects.”

Asked whether the suspected gunmen are Nigerians or foreigners, Major Umar said, “The three suspects that were arrested from the scene of attacks are Nigerians, they are not foreigners. The arms we arrested them with are also locally made guns including one AK-47 riffle. These suspects are not the only ones involved in the attacks, we are on the trail of others.

“We want to appeal to Nigerians to be patient and cooperative with us in our efforts to get the perpetrators of this killings, people should ignore rumors been circulated on the social media, we encourage the media to reach out to us and verify any rumor before they publish.”

In the meantime, some concerned Nigerians who spoke with The DEFENDER have warned political elites who they accused of only being concerned about exploiting anything including national security to watch their tongues about how they misrepresent the good intention of the current Nigerian Armed Forces.

One of them who insisted on strict condition of anonymity considering the nature of issue at stake said, “As far as we are concerned, the Nigerian military have lived up to their billing except any unpatriotic Nigerians want to tell us what better way to go.  But let us warn the political elites, including those few who think they naturally own Nigeria by virtues of their being former rulers, to watch their tongues and stop running our military down.  The Army and other arms of armed forces we have seen so far under the Buhari’s administration are far better and patriotic professionals than we have had in recent years,” he said.