The Federal Government has vowed that those behind last Thursday’s armed robbery and killings in Offa, Kwara State, would be arrested and brought to justice.
Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the assurance when he paid a condolence visit to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, at the Government House Ilorin.
The minister said the country is ‘‘shocked and grieving’’ by the dastardly acts committed in Offa, during which nine policemen were killed and scores of civilians affected.
The minister was, however, quick to add that the state and public must learn from ‘‘the mistakes’’ of the incident, with a view to improving on security architecture of the entire country.
‘‘What happened in Offa last Thursday shocked the entire nation and is our prayers that the souls of all the victims will rest in peace and also, that those badly injured would be healed and recover very soon.
‘‘I want to take this opportunity to also let you know that the entire country is grieving and the entire country is sympathising with Kwara state and the entire people of Offa .
‘‘But, there is also a silver lining; despite the losses of the police, it is quite heart-warming to know that some of the suspects have been arrested.
‘‘I spoke with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, yesterday, and he assured me that all the people responsible for the dastardly act would be arrested and brought to justice.
‘‘I hope also that we are all going to learn from the mistakes; both the larger public and everybody, and we are going to factor this into the larger security architecture in a manner that we will have a much more secured and safe state, country’’, he said.
In his response, governor Ahmed thanked the ‘‘Presidency for its intervention so far.’’
The governor particularly expressed delight with the promise made by IGP to deploy armoured personnel carrier that will be stationed specifically in Offa; to prevent future occurrence.
He described the level of the crime perpetrated as ‘‘unexpected’,’ a situation which he said was indication that the country is in a ‘‘challenging situation.’’
The governor said the federal government must, at this time, accept the fact that the country is going through challenging times and redouble efforts towards improving on the security architecture.
Governor Ahmed added: “This is not the time for blame game.”
-Sun
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