Police, army clash in Taraba should shame us all – Odinkalu

Chidi Odinkalu

Former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chidi Odinkalu, has said that Nigerians should be ashamed of the killing of policemen by soldiers in Taraba State.

Police had said on Wednesday that three policemen from the Intelligence Response Team who were taking a kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu, to the command headquarters in Jalingo were attacked by soldiers.

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They said the police officers were shot dead while the suspect was set free, but the army countered the claim, saying the policemen were mistaken for kidnappers.

Odinkalu tweeted on Friday calling for an end to the delight of Nigerians who have leveraged on the incident to rejoice over the killing as policemen have also been severally involved in indiscriminate killing of civilians.

“I hope ppl will drop the gloating at the killing of these @PoliceNG officers. All lives matter. Their death shames us all. Every #Nigerian shd feel endangered. An independent investigation is needed. If their death humanizes our security forces, they’d not have died in vain. #RIP,” he said.

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The identities of the slain officers were revealed on Thursday with the police paying tribute to them.