from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
ABUJA, (CAJ News) – THE killing of soldiers and police officers by civilians and militants is getting out of hand in Nigeria.
It is the latest twist in violent crime characterizing the West African nation that is the largest nation in the continent.
Soldiers and police are killed as they tackle these crimes rendering Nigeria unstable.
The oil-rich Delta State in the south is the epicentre of the killing of uniformed forces.
Recent incidents included the murder of 17 Nigerian Army personnel.
In late March, residents ambushed and killed the military officers in the Okuama community of the state.
The soldiers were responding to an ethnic conflict in the area when they were ambushed and killed.
Also in the state, seven police officers were recently killed in the Ughelli region of the state while investigating the disappearance of their colleagues in a notorious forest feared for housing kidnappers.
They disappeared in the O’horo Forest.
In the most recent tragedy, members of the secessionist Independence People of Biafra (IPOB) in the southeast Abia state have allegedly killed five soldiers during ongoing agitations for self-rule.
The Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) has lamented the killings as “senseless.”
President Bola Tinubu, stated, “These unwarranted barbaric and evil acts are condemnable and should never be condoned or tolerated in our country.”
“Our soldiers and the police have the onerous duty to protect all of us from aggressors and criminal non-state actors,” the president added.
“Hundreds of them have paid the ultimate price in fulfilment of their duty, while some have experienced the indignity of being manhandled by the people they protect,” he said.
Tinubu, in power since 2023, warned perpetrators their actions were akin to treason.
“The fact that the security forces are exercising necessary restraints when attacked should not be mistaken for weakness,” the president emphasised.
He is the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
– CAJ News