• JTF kills 20 Boko Haram members
• Group's leader threatens more violence
A MORE worrisome dimension was added to the nation's insecurity at the weekend as the new Kwara State Commissioner of Police Commissioner (CP), Mr. Chinwike Asadu, was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Enugu.
Meanwhile, barely 24 hours after Boko Haram denied any ceasefire or truce with the Federal Government, men of the Forward Operation Base (FOB) and Joint Task Force (JTF) Sunday killed 20 members of the group who attacked Monguno Military Barracks in Borno State.
Also, the JTF Sunday arrested two top Boko Haram commanders that were allegedly responsible for the Maiduguri multiple bomb-blasts last Thursday, while some governors were holding a meeting at Government House.
However, Boko Haram's supreme leader, Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, Sunday, in a fresh video statement, denied any dialogue with the Federal Government, stressing it had not ceased fire.
He rather threatened that the group would unleash more deadly attacks in some of the northern states to avenge the arrest and killing of its members.
Also, the Taraba State Government has mapped out fresh plans to check rising cases of violence.
Asadu was recently posted to Kwara from Lagos, where he was a Mopol Commander. The Guardian learnt his orderly, Aloha Olaniyi, and driver, Oliver Omeh, who were with him at the time of the incident on Saturday night, sustained serious bullet-wounds and are in a critical conditions at National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu.
The incident was said to have occurred at about 10.00 p.m. at Amorji Nike, near Abakpa Nike in Enugu East Local Council of Enugu State. Asadu reportedly visited his home-town, Nsukka, at the weekend and was driving into his residence when the assailants, said to have laid an ambush around his residence, attacked him and his aides.
According to sources, he had seen off a visitor in company of his driver and a police orderly posted to guard his residence from Abakpa Police Division, leaving behind the official escort team that came with him from the Kwara State Police Command.
They were returning to the house after dropping off the visitor when they suddenly noticed a bus trailing them as they entered his street, only for the gunmen to start firing at the vehicle from the rear, killing the CP and wounding the two policemen. The hoodlums took away the rifle of the orderly, whose body was equally riddled with bullets.
The Kwara State Police Command was yet to officially react to the development. But some of the officers at the Ahmadu Bello Way Police Headquarters, Ilorin, looked forlorn as they expressed sadness over the death of their boss, who The Guardian learnt, would have retired from service next month.
The new Police Commissioner in Enugu, Mr. Tonye Ebitibituwa, was said to have directed his men to conduct a manhunt for the gunmen within and outside the state capital to track down the murderers.
Meanwhile, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed described Asadu's death as shocking and a huge loss not only to the Nigeria Police but Kwara State security apparatus in particular as he exhibited high sense of discipline and professionalism in the course of duty.
Dr. Ahmed, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Alhaji Abdulwahab Oba, said: " CP Chinwe Asadu, in the discharge of his duty in Kwara State, contributed immensely to the sustenance of peace in the state and in the upholding of our values as a state of harmony."
The governor noted that it was particularly painful that Asadu has become another index in the annals of the growing national insecurity.
He said: "It has become very expedient for us as a nation to rally round in finding enduring solution to the national malaise of insecurity," and prayed to God to grant the family, the rank and file of the police in the state and the Nigeria Police in its entirety the fortitude to bear the loss.
Also, two federal lawmakers from Kwara State, Dr. Ahmad Ali and Zakari Mohammed, have expressed shock and worry at the murder of their former CP.
The terrorists that came in three four-wheel drive vehicles and eight motorcycles attacked the barracks at dawn.
In a statement, the JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, said: "Some Boko Haram terrorists attempted to attack a Military Barracks at Monguno, Monguno Local Council of Borno State at about 5.00 a.m. today (yesterday).
"The attack was repelled by the FOB's and JTF troops at the outskirts of the barracks. The encounter led to the death of 20 Boko Haram terrorists; and three four-wheel vehicles and eight motorcycles used by the terrorists were destroyed.
"Arms and ammunition recovered in the clash include seven Kalashnikov rifles, 10 rocked propelled grenades, two RPG tubes, large quantities of assorted ammunition and eight assorted magazines."
Shekau appeared in the video, standing and surrounded by seven other armed men with their faces covered.
He further claimed responsibility for all the violence, including the ones alleged, by security officials, to have been committed by suspected criminals.
He denied having any relationship with Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdulazeez, the man who repeatedly claimed to be his second in command, and who announced the cease-fire.
Taraba State's Acting Governor, Garba Umar, in a statewide broadcast said owing to the recent violence in Wukari Local Council, traditional rulers and council chairmen would be held accountable for any further outbreak of crisis in their domains.
He added that more jobs would be created for the teeming youths, while efforts would be made to track down those fomenting trouble and prosecute them.
Umar, who visited Wukari, said: "I have just returned from a visit to the area to see things for myself and I must say that I am shocked by the magnitude of destruction and the death toll caused by the crisis."
The Guardian
That is a very bad news by this time of the year. What kind of security exist in that state sef? A comissioner of police was killed just like that...