www.peoplesdailyng.com
Vol. 11 No. 5
. . . putting the people first
Friday, May 24, 2013
Rajab 15, 1434 AH
N150
FR ONT P AGE COMMENT FRONT PA
Ombatse: Nip this murderous militia in the bud
T
he outrage engendered by the senseless mass killings and destruction in Baga and Bama, both in Borno state, had hardly subsided when, about a fortnight ago, Nigerians, and the rest of the world, were once again horrified and outraged beyond words by yet another round of even more senseless massacre of fellow Nigerians. This time, though, the incident took place in Nasarawa state, and the victims were not defenceless civilians, as in the case of Baga and Bama, but security operatives on duty. A team of about 100 security operatives, comprised largely of policemen from the Nasarawa police command and 10 State Security Service (SSS) agents, sent on a mission to Alakyo, a village about 10
kilometres outside Lafia, the state capital, to effect the arrest of the Ombatse cult's chief priest, who had consistently refused to honour police invitation to come to Lafia, was ambushed as it approached the village. As we now know, only a handful survived the ambush. Most were matchetted by their attackers, the Ombatse militia, and then burned, their charred bodies left lying in the bush, or thrown into disused wells, or buried in shallow mass graves. In the entire history of Nigeria, nothing of this scale, and hardly anything more bestial and brutal, had happened before. It came as a terrible shock to everyone, even in this country where violence and killings have become a daily occurrence. Doubtless, as many have noted, the way and manner the
mission to Alakyo was conceived, organised and conducted leaves something to be desired on the part of both the police and the SSS, especially their commanders. Perhaps they proceeded on the basis of a scanty or faulty understanding of the nature and ideology of the Ombatse cult, and how it operates. This may be why the commanders grossly underestimated the cult's hold on its members and, therefore, failed to factor into their plan the very high possibility of a leakage, of some of the cult members within the Force and even within the mission team itself tipping off the chief priest and his men. As it happened, such a leakage was precisely what led to the mission's disastrous outcome. Contd on Page 12
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