Niger Abduction: IGP Deploys Rescue Team

Following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s order for the rescue of abducted Friday mosque worshippers, the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, has deployed a rescue team to Niger State, even as the police advised villagers to leave bandit-prone communities to allow for operational clearance.

At an inter-agency news conference yesterday on the abduction, the Niger State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, who represented the Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi Adamu Elleman, said the Inspector-General of Police’s rescue team deployed to the state was headed by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG Victor Olaiya.

He said the rescue team also comprised the state tactical team, the counter-terrorism squad, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the military.

On the delay in ascertaining the number of people abducted, the PPRO said, “The area around Dakera is difficult terrain. That is why ascertaining the number of those abducted has been difficult. We must interact with the villagers to get the exact figures in order not to give contradictory figures.”

He said the police were still working with the locals to determine the number of people abducted and those who lost their lives, while debunking claims that there was no police presence in the affected communities.

“We have intensified clearance operations. The people are to move out for the clearance operation. You know people are attached to their homes, but it is very dangerous to allow them to remain around during such clearance operations,” he added.

Abiodun appealed to Nigerians to be patient as the rescue operation was ongoing, adding that patience was needed for strategic reasons because “rescue operations are delicate; in saving lives, we should not lose lives.”

The Coordinator of the newly established Niger State Security Situation Room, who is also the Commissioner for Homeland Security, Barrister Maurice Justin Magaji, said the government had provided all the logistics needed for the rescue team’s operation.

He said other members of the situation room included the State Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Commissioner of Police, while lamenting the incident that led to the mass abduction of the villagers.

Magaji reiterated that the government was determined to rescue all the victims, saying not all operational tactics and assets would be made public for strategic reasons.