Oyo abduction: We took operation to rescue victims personally – IRT, SIS officers
By Kingsley Omonobi
Police officers comprising operatives on the Special Intervention Squad, SIS, and the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, have disclosed that they gave their all in joint coordination with the military and other security agencies to ensure the successful rescue of the 44 abducted pupils and teachers of Oriire schools because they saw the abductees as their own children.
One police personnel, Sergeant John Jerome Mbena, was killed during the rescue operation while several other police personnel sustained various degrees of injuries.
This is just as the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, has mourned a police officer who died during a joint security operation and commended the operatives involved for their bravery and success.
Speaking on Friday while receiving the personnel who took part in the rescue mission, the IG said an officer paid the supreme price while working alongside other security agencies to free the abducted children.
“We just finished prayer for the officer we lost in the Oyo State school abduction incident. You remember I called all of you here some few weeks back where I advised you and told you you’ll be joining other sister agency in a very serious national assignment.
“I’m happy you guys went and you did us proud. I got information from the commander of the operation about the parts you played. I cannot thank you enough for your national service,” he said.
The police chief disclosed that other officers who sustained injuries during the operation were responding well to treatment, and assured that the force would continue to cater to their welfare as well as the family of the slain officer.
“For the others who sustained injury, we are happy they are recovering very fast,” he said, adding that both government and private hospitals had been engaged to ensure the injured officers received adequate care.
Explaining why the police make public the deaths of officers killed in the line of duty, the IG said personnel were human beings and are entitled to be mourned and celebrated, stressing that the practice was standard globally.
“Police officers, first and foremost, are human beings. Police officers have emotions. Police officers feel it when a colleague dies,” he said, noting that such officers die “protecting the people.”
He commended the collaboration between the police and other security agencies, insisting that no single agency was superior to the other in the fight against insecurity.
“We have made up our minds to work together, train together and fight this insurgency together,” he stated.
He appealed to members of the public to volunteer useful information to security agencies.
“We beg you. We plead to members of the public. If you see something, say something.
“Cooperate with the security agency. The situation we have now is such that everybody must come together. Give us information. Assist us to nip it in the bud. Because the life you save may be your own,” he said.
One of the officers who participated in the operation, SP Mohammed Abduramaan, said the team did not see the abducted children as strangers but as their own.
“We didn’t look at them as victims. We looked at them as our own children. Every step we took, we took those steps for the children.
“So we are very happy that we carried out the successful operation. What is expected of us, we heard their cry and we answered the call and we succeeded.
“This is what we are trained for…it is our job. We are happy to do the job. We are still going back to our various formations to continue our work,” he said.
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