As part of measures to tackle the spread of terrorist activities to other parts of the country, the police have mounted surveillance on radical clerics and all ethnic militia groups.
The Force said it had placed tabs on the Odua Peoples Congress, Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and other illegal groups.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole revealed on Saturday that the police would deal with any group engaged in acts inimical to the interest of the country.
She stated that though the police respect citizens’ freedom of religion, the agency would not condone any acts or utterances that could lead to a breach of the peace, noting that the police would not spare anyone who foments trouble.
Kolawole said, “In as much as everyone has freedom of religion, police surveillance is on any group that will try to foment trouble, it does not matter where they stay.”
The police had earlier arrested 22 members of MASSOB and the Indigenous People of Biafra in some parts of the country.
The Force said four suspects were apprehended in Anambra, six in Imo, 11 in Delta and one in Abia states respectively, noting that the arrests were sequel to the order by the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, for a clamp-down on persons or group of persons inciting violence and social disorder across the country.
The police said all the persons so far arrested for inciting violence, irrespective of their class or status in the society, would be charged to court.
Kolawole said, “Police are mounting surveillance on every ethnic militia group that is engaged in acts that are inimical to the interest of the state whether they are OPC, MEND, MASSOB or Boko Haram, they will all be dealt with.”
When asked if the police had placed specific communities in Lagos and other Southern states under watch for having links with Boko Haram, the police spokesperson did not respond.
The Commissioner of Police in Osun State, Mr. Kola Sodipo, when contacted on the telephone told one of our correspondents that the police had stepped up surveillance in the state to ensure that members of the Boko Haram sect did not encroach into the state.
One of our correspondents also observed increased presence of policemen on the roads within the state. These policemen carry out search on some vehicles whose occupants look suspicious especially at night.
The CP said, “We have intensified surveillance to make sure that Boko Haram members do not come to Osun State. We are doing everything possible to keep the state safe from insurgents and other criminals.”
Asked if there was a special attention on the Hausa communities in the state, Sodipo said the police did not single out Huasa people or Northerners but were looking at everywhere to prevent incursion of the sect into the area.
He said, “ Boko Haram are not Hausas. Hausa people are mostly Muslims, they too don’t like what the Boko Haram members are doing. We are working with them to ensure that these criminals do not come into their midst.”
Following surveillance operations in different parts of the country, the Department of State Services had also arrested 20 suspected Boko Haram commanders in Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Plateau and Gombe states.
The suspects who were arrested between July 8 and August 25, 2015, include the masterminds of the suicide attacks in Potiskum, Kano, Zaria, and Jos.
The DSS in a statement by an official, Tony Opuiyo explained that those arrested were notable commanders and frontline members of the notorious group from different parts of the country.
It noted that the group’s new pattern of movement and spread was caused by the pressure being put on them by security forces in their core areas of strength in the North-East.
The service listed those arrested in Lagos to include Bakura Modu who was apprehended on July, 20 at Kara, Isheri Berger, Ikeja; Mustapha Jamberi, who was picked up on July, 24 at Gowon Estate, Egbeda.
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