Following the massacre of policemen and officers of the Department of State Security, DSS in Nasarawa State, both agencies have blamed laxity on their part for the death of the 46 policemen and 10 DSS operatives killed by the Omatse cult.
Speaking at the joint security information forum on the security situation in the country, Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mba and his DSS counterpart, Ms Marilyn Ogar, disclosed that some policemen and DSS operatives were ordered to prevent a security breach observed, not knowing that the operation would be bloody since the report available to both agencies did not put the Ombatse cult in the same category of the Boko Haram terrorism that attacked Baga and Bama.
Ogar said, if they had known that the situation would be that bloody, “we would have had the military back-up but we never thought there would be such a disaster, otherwise we would have gone there with the military back up, but there was no military back up. We (DSS) sent 10 personnel and all of them were killed, four corpses have been released for burial.”
Mba, who said the Police have recovered 32 bodies, appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the security operatives who have vowed not only to bring the culprits to book but to ensure such an incident is not repeated in the country again.
According to him, “we must admit here that Nigeria is passing through one of the most periods in terms of security “noting that insecurity of lives and property was not restricted to Nigeria”.
“We would not abdicate our responsibilities. Nigeria must also rise up, to take up action and provide support to security agencies”.
Mba accused the human rights community of turning a blind eye to the mass killing of police and wondered why they have been silent since the unfortunate incident, unlike how they quickly responded in the Baga killings.
He therefore tasked the Human Rights Watch and others to appreciate that those who were killed were human beings and those security operatives too have fundamental human rights.
