The Minister of Interior, Ra’uf Aregbesola, yesterday fingered the deadly Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) militants for the attacks on St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, in Ondo State.
Aregbesola, who briefed State House correspondents alongside the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Alkali Baba, after the security meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, disclosed that the government “has seen the footprints of ISWAP in the attack, adding that “the Government is on their trail”.
Recall that some unknown gunmen had on Sunday raided the St. Francis Catholic Church at Owo, near Akure, the Ondo state capital, killing over 50 worshippers.
The Minister, however, declared that the security agencies were yet to arrest any of the perpetrators. He noted that the Owo attacks were “consistent with ISWAP style in the North-East, North-West and North-Central regions, where we have pockets of bandits operating there”.
“We are very close to getting the perpetrators”, the minister, however, assured.
The Minister also called on various communities across the country to be vigilant, adding that “We must mobilise ourselves to defeat their efforts to stoke ethnic violence and cause anarchy in the country”.
The IGP disclosed that security has been beefed-up in Ekiti and Osun States, where elections are scheduled to hold very soon, with the deployment of 17,374 policemen, aside from the military.
He announced that the Police are strengthening engagements and collaborations with the various communities as part of the Community Policing programme, adding that “By next month, we are graduating about 10,000 new sets of Police personnel, which will be added to the current number to strengthen our operational capabilities”.
