The Nigeria Police have scaled
up security arrangements around churches and public locations across
the country to forestall attacks by insurgents and other criminal
elements during the Christmas celebration,
Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
Similarly, the police commands across the country have banned the use of fireworks, especially around churches.
Findings show that police formations
across the country are deploying thousands of men in churches, and
locations like major markets and motor parks, an arrangement that is
expected to continue till the New Year’s Day celebration.
The Nigeria Police’s spokesman, Donald
Awunah, said on Friday that the nationwide operation would involve
specialised units like the Police Mobile Force, Counter-terrorism Unit,
Special Protection Unit, Federal Highway Patrol, Explosive Ordinance
Department, the Armament Unit, Marine Police, helicopters and sniffer
dogs.
“Motorists, commuters and other road
users are enjoined to cooperate with police detachments and personnel
deployed in the highways and major roads across the country,” Awunah
said.
He said that the Inspector-General of
Police, Ibrahim Idris, had directed the Assistant Inspectors-General of
Police and Commissioners of Police in all the zones and commands in the
country to personally supervise the operation.
In Nigeria’s North-East, which is
battling Boko Haram insurgency, the security arrangements are more
extensive. It was learnt that churches in the zone were training private
security guards to complement the efforts of the police.
The Catholic Church in Yola, Adamawa
State, for instance, said it had learnt from past attacks and had taken
measures to secure worshippers.
Head, Justice, Peace and Development
Commission and Director of Communications for the church in Yola,
Maurice Kwairanga, said threats of attacks are usually heightened during
festivities.
According to him, youths trained in identifying suspicious faces will be deployed in churches to screen incoming worshippers.
He said the efforts of the military and
the police would be complemented by the vigilance of youths and
volunteers, who have been trained to detect any suspicious person.
He said, “We are aware of that and have
put in place measures of detection and prevention. We have Catholic
youth volunteers, who although not armed, can easily identify any new
face or suspicious persons.”
However, the Chairman, Christian
Association of Nigeria in Adamawa State, Bishop Mike Moses, said there
were complaints by some churches that they were not being covered by
security agents. He said such churches had been advised to make use of
their internal security systems.
To show the scale
of police deployment, Niger State for instance, deployed 4,000
personnel in churches, while the Nasarawa State Police Command deployed
5,000 in churches and trouble spots across the state’s 13 local
government areas on Friday. The Commissioner of Police in the state,
Abubakar Bello, said his men would be at junctions, places of worship,
recreation centres and other public places to prevent any attack.
According to the Police Public Relations
Officer in Niger State, Mr. Bala Elkana, the men would also cover all
the recreational centres and parks in the state, as mobile police and an
anti-bomb squad would be actively in place.
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