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Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has denied any link with suspects
accused of killings and cultism, urging the Inspector General of Police,
IGP, Ibrahim Idris Kpotum, to desist from attempting to frame himself and
Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Saraki had at Senate plenary on Wednesday alleged that the police chief
had transferred some criminal suspects undergoing interrogation in Kwara
to make statements to implicate him and the state government.
In a statement by his spokesperson, Muideen Akorede, on the matter
Thursday, Mr Ahmed as denied as “false and misleading, insinuations
linking” him and Mr Saraki “with the suspected cultists arrested in
Ilorin, the state capital and transferred by the Nigeria Police to Abuja.”
The governor said neither him nor the Senate President or any of their
aides have links with the suspected cultists or their alleged activities.
“He also denied any knowledge of or any intention to harm any individual
as the political leadership in the state has never used violence as a
political tool.”
The statement referred the general public to the parade of the suspects by
the state commissioner of police, Aminu Pai Saleh on Thursday, May 10, in
Ilorin, “during which he announced that the suspects were arrested for
alleged murder and membership of cult groups but made no mention of any
confessional statement linking their activities to any sponsors.”
Mr Ahmed described the alleged killings as the outcome of clashes between
rival cults in the state “as most victims have been identified by security
agencies as members of cult groups.
According to the statement, “Governor Ahmed emphasised that the growing
problem of cultism and cult-related criminalities formed the basis of his
charge to the new Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Saleh to focus
on ending the menace on his resumption last month.
“According to him, the state government sees cultism as a serious security
issue requiring urgent attention and has accordingly amended the State
Cultism Law to prescribe stiffer penalties for convicts and those who aid
and abet them, besides providing operational support to all security
agencies in the state in their fight against all forms of criminalities,
including cultism.
“Governor Ahmed warned that cultism is a serious security challenge which
should neither be trivialised and turned into a political tool nor be
treated with levity.
“He therefore urged well-meaning Nigerians to disregard any attempt to
politicise the menace of cultism but focus instead on joining hands with
the government and security agencies to bring the menace to an end in the
interest of public safety while allowing the rule of law and justice to
prevail in the matter.”