by Rachel Ogbu

The Presidency has declared that there would be no emergency rule in five Northern states as earlier speculated.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, has said that the Federal Government has not taken a decision of that sort to solve the security problems in Borno, Yobe, Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau states.

“We have not taken such decision and people should stop speculating . The Federal Government is studying the situation in the affected states and would take a decision that would be in the overall interest of the security of not just the people of the states affected.”

Police Affairs Minister, Caleb Olubolade, assured journalists that the Nigeria Police had no intention to revenge the killing of officers in Nasarawa.

“The security agencies, particularly the police, will not want to go and revenge; it is not going to help us because they are supposed to protect lives and property.

“A revenge attack will not douse tensions and will bring about a lack of confidence in the system. So, we strictly discourage that,’’ he said.

Daily Independent reports:

The police officers who died were said to be on their way to arrest the leader of the Ombatse cult when gunmen ambushed and opened fire on them. Ombatse in the Eggon language literally means “the time has come”.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had earlier said 17 security personnel were still missing but added that the injured were responding to treatment, while some had been discharged from the hospital.

He called the ambush on policemen an act of sabotage by the group, which might have infiltrated the ranks of security operatives in the state.

Meanwhile, security operatives in Abuja on Saturday began putting together pieces of background information on the alleged mole, Corporal Enugu, that led 43 Policemen to their untimely grave in Nasarawa State last Wednesday.
First, operatives discovered his real name as Tango Atahiru. He was born 35 years ago in Yashi to a peasant farmer parents who hails from Eggon.

A competent source from the Department of State Service (DSS) told our correspondent in a telephone interview from Abuja Saturday that the suspect joined the Force with fake identity the second time in 2007 in Lafia, Nasarawa State.