Political and social connections in high places by suspects in the Kwara State killer cult may have caused their transfer by the police from Ilorin to Abuja for further investigation
Six men are currently being held by the police over alleged murders in the state in the last few years.
Senate President Bukola Saraki said earlier in the week that Police Inspector General Ibrahim Idris was trying to link him with cult killings in the state while Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed cautioned against being roped in.
However,police sources said yesterday that it was only reasonable to transfer the men to Abuja if external interference with investigation was to be avoided.
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One source said:“ while all suspects deserve to be treated as innocent until found guilty, some of them have very solid connections within and outside the police force.”
The source said one of the suspects “has a father who holds a high chieftaincy position in Ilorin and he was for many years, the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force in Kwara state before he retired.
“The same suspect has a brother who is the head of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in one of the Southwest states.
“As we speak, a deputy commissioner of Police in Kwara state is being transferred out of the station for reasons best known to higher authorities in Abuja.”
Police Force’ spokesman, ACP Moshood Jimoh declined to respond to questions from The Nation on the matter yesterday.
Contacted by phone yesterday,Jimoh merely said:“There is an official statement about the transfer of suspects from Kwara state and another statement will be issued in due course when it is deemed necessary to do so.”
Saraki who has been having a running battle with IGP Idris after the police chief snubbed repeated summons by the Senate warned against “ rascality, intimidation and harassment.”
He said the “crude tactics” were aimed at turning the country into a police state where top officials “cannot be made to obey the law, follow due process and subject themselves to constituted authorities.”
He claimed that the police transfer of the suspects to Abuja was part of the move by Idris to settle scores with the Senate for declaring him an enemy of democracy and unfit to hold any public office within and outside the country.
Saraki informed the Senate that Governor Ahmed had told him that the Kwara State Government was in the process of arraigning the suspects in court only for the IG to order their transfer to Abuja.
He said it was all about putting the suspects under duress to change the statements they had already made in Ilorin, with a view to implicating him and the Kwara State Government.
The Senate resolved to send a 10-man delegation to President Muhammadu Buhari with a view to briefing him on the issue and reporting the IGP.
But Idris in a swift response to Saraki’s allegation said there “is no iota of truth in the allegation and false assertion by the Senate President of plot against him by the IGP to implicate the Kwara State government and the Senate President in any criminal matter.”
He added: “it is pertinent to state that there is no vested interest by the Inspector General of Police in the ongoing investigation into the several murders committed by this killer gang, other than ensuring that justice prevails in the matter.
“ Nobody, no matter how highly placed would be allowed to interfere or obstruct Police investigation to pervert the course of justice.
“It is also imperative to let the public know that last year, suspects arrested over the mayhem and killings of innocent people in Ile-Ife, Osun State and those arrested in Southern Kaduna crisis in Kaduna State and suspects arrested in connection with Zaki-biam killings in Benue State were all transferred to the Force Headquarters, Abuja for further investigation before they were arraigned in court of competent jurisdiction.”
