Boko Haram: Police take over 4 liberated towns in Borno…

Boko Haram: Police take over 4 liberated towns in Borno…

— 27th April 2016

….As IGP tours North East, deploys 3,000 officers 

From Mollly Kilete. Maiduguri.

The Nigerian Police, yesterday, said it has fully taken over four liberated towns and cities in Borno State from  Boko Haram.

Similarly, the police said it has concluded plans to take over another 19 liberated towns in the state before the end of the month

This was just as Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, assured the government and people of Borno of the determination of his men to restore civil authority in not just the liberated towns in Borno, but the entire North East. Police, however, refused to name the liberated towns and villages for security reasons.

Arase, who is visiting Borno, Yobe and Adamawa to ascertain the level of deployment of personnel and equipment to liberated cities and towns, equally assured that the police would do everything in its power to restore civil authority in all  liberated towns in the North East in the shortest possible time. At a meeting he had with officers and men of the Borno State Police Command headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Sotonye Wakama, the IGP said the welfare of personnel to be deployed to the liberated towns and cities was of top most priority to enable them perform optimally.

He said of the 3,000, police personnel that would be deployed to the North East, about 1,700, will be in Borno to be assisted by men of the state command while others would be deployed to Yobe and Adamawa states.

Arase said the deployment was in response to President Muhamadu Buhari’s directive to the police to move into liberated towns and cities to restore civil authority.

The IGP, who also visited Governor Kashim Shettima  said police presence in the liberated towns would create a secure environment necessary for the return of IDPs to their respective communities. He appealed to the governor to make land available in the state for the police to built post service houses for its personnel to retire to after service.

The governor, who was represented by his deputy, thanked the IGP, for visiting the state and said the presence of police personnel in liberated towns and villages, displaced persons would now have the confidence to return  to their respective towns and carry on with their legitimate businesses without fear of being killed.