Some residents of Nasarawa state
have told Amnesty International (AI) that policemen sent to their communities
to stop attacks by suspected herdsmen asked them to pay N150,000.
The residents made the
allegations in a report released by AI on the conflict between farmers and
herdsmen in the country.
In the report released Monday,
the villagers were quoted as saying the policemen who were reportedly deployed
from the force criminal intelligence and investigation department asked them to
pay the money for “logistics”.
The report read: “Some residents
of villages from Nasarawa and Kokona LGAs and Agwada, Udege, and Loko
Development Area Councils, all within Nasarawa State, on 10 March 2017 wrote a
petition to the Chief of Army Staff seeking help against what they described as
incessant attacks by Fulani gunmen on their communities.
“The army wrote a letter to the
Inspector General of Police (IGP), attaching the petition, asking the IGP to
“look into the petition with a view to taking necessary action to remedy the
situation”.
“The IGP forwarded the letter to
the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Force Criminal Intelligence
and Investigation Department for investigation.
“The villagers told Amnesty
International that the policemen sent from the Nigeria Police Force
Headquarters asked them to pay N150,000 ($411), for logistics, which they paid
in cash, because the policemen did not want to leave any trace of the funds to
them. But only three policemen were sent to Nasarawa LGA.
“The policemen then went to the
police station in Agwada town between the 25 and 27 May 2017, where they asked
people from the affected villages to come and write statements.
“According to a resident of one
of the villages, the policemen refused to go to the villages, complaining of
bad road and that the Fulani gunmen had better weapons than them.”
Isa Sanusi, AI spokesman,
confirmed the villagers’ claim to TheCable on Tuesday.
“I can confirm that to you. We
have evidences. Everything in that report is a fact so they asked them to pay,”
he said.
When Jimoh Moshood, Nigeria
police spokesman, was reached out to, he denied the allegations.
Moshood said he reached out to
the force criminal intelligence and investigations department and the officer
in charge said no one asked for money from the villagers.
“It is totally false. I checked
with the department after reviewing your text message and I can tell you it is
mere heresay. No police will ask for money from citizens,” he said.
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