Nigerian Police holding about 3000 kidnap suspects

The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, says there are up to 3,000 suspected kidnappers in various police cells across the country.

Mr. Idris, who stated this Friday while speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, said the suspects were being taken to the courts on a daily basis.

“Presently, we have almost over 3000 suspects in the various police stations all over the country and we are taking them to court,” he said.

“Recently, I set up a task force to sort of streamline or scrutinise these cases so that we have speedy trial of some of these suspects.”

The Police IG said he was at the villa to brief Mr. Buhari on the security situation across Nigeria.

He said he briefed the president about the security arrangements in respect of the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra state. On the specific arrangements made, the IGP said the force was deploying about 21,000 police officers to be able to provide adequate security in the state.

“We are also deploying our water boats to take care of the waterways; we are deploying our helicopters to take care of the aerial surveillance and we are deploying our conventional police men and special police units to take care of situations on ground and by the grace of God we are going to have a successful and peaceful elections in Anambra state,” he said.

The Nigerian Senate had this week asked the IGP to appear before an ad hoc committee investigating claims made against him by Senator Hamma Misau or risk being arrested. Responding on Friday, Mr. Idris said he was discussing with his legal team. “Obviously, if there is need we are going to appear for the sake of having respect for the Senate, I will appear before them,” he said.

Mr. Idris also said the police was continuing to pay attention to the rampant cases of kidnappings along the Abuja/Kaduna highway. He said a special unit of the force had been posted to the highway.

He commended the National Assembly for “providing sort of a death penalty for suspects arrested involved in some of these cases of kidnapping”. He also said there will be a drastic drop in the number of kidnappings along the road “because of these punishments that has been made now by the National Assembly”.