The Imo State Police Command has warned people of the state to desist from labeling any man/woman dressed in northern attires as Boko Haram.
The police command in a statement issued yesterday in Owerri by its Public Relations Officer, DSP Andrew Enwerem, said insurgents are not identified by their mode of dressing or the language they speak.
The statement advised people of the state to maintain harmonious relationship with people of other ethnic groups, rather than engage in name-calling.
The police spokesman also urged the media to embark on sensitization on the issue.
The warning came on the heels of fears expressed by northern leaders in the state over the fact that everybody from their region are now tagged Boko Haram.
Vice Chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Muhamad Abubakar Tola, said it is unfair for people to tag every northerner, Boko Haram.
He recalled that recently, some Hausa people, who went to a viewing center to watch a World Cup match, were turned away.
Similarly, the Sarikin Hausawa of Imo State, Alhaji Baba Saidu Suleman, at a press conference in Owerri, also condemned the development and appealed to Imo people to see northerners in the state as part of them, considering the number of years they have lived there.
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