Revealed:Policemen Tipped Militia To Kill 40 Policemen In Nasarawa

Two police insiders who allegedly leaked information to the dreaded Ombatse cult group were yesterday paraded before Nasarawa State Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura by the state’s police commissioner Abayomi Akeremale. The ill-fated Alakyo, Lafia operation led to the death of many police officers and other security agents. Four are still being held by the cultists, according to Al-Makura.

Ombatse, a notorious cult group of the Eggon people of Nasarawa State, has been accused of forceful initiation of people into their fold. The two police corporals paraded for allegedly tipping off the cult members are of Eggon origin.
Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura and heads of the security forces including the state police command, the State Security Service (SSS) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) said the operation which was led by an Assistant Police Commissioner,   Mommoh Mohammed, was properly planned for success with all safety measures put for the security operatives. 
But they said insider information leaked to Ombatse broke the operation after the security operatives ran straight into the ambush that killed many policemen, SSS operatives and Civil Defence personnel.
“Every arrangement for their (security operatives’) safety was made. The most unfortunate thing that happened was the betrayal within them,” Governor Al-Makura said yesterday in Government House, when he received widows and children as well as other relatives of the slain security operatives who poured into his office in a large number, to protest against   killing of their husbands and relatives.
“This is what betrayal has caused to not only you, but the rest of the nation,” Al-Makura told the widows, assuring that “the blood of the heroes will not go in vain.”
Al-Makura also said the State Security Council was aware that four of the security personnel on the operation were still being held by Ombatse members in a hideout, but assured that both the government and the security agencies were closing in on the perpetrators to free the men. 
“The compounding issue is that the place is still insecure. It is not to say we can’t go there. We are trying to get anyone still alive there. We heard up to four men are still being held, but the police are working hard to free them,” he said.
Commissioner of Police, Abayomi Akeremale, who led the suspects to Government House, to parade the two policemen in Lafia around 4:30pm, said one of the cops whose name was given only as Corporal Enugu, was arrested after a team of detectives monitored his behaviors since the day of the ill-fated operation.
He said Corporal Enugu who drove one of the patrol vans with registration number NPF 6997 C, was one of the men who returned alive from the operation. 
“A team of detectives monitored him carefully. They first stumbled on charms in his vehicle (official vehicle). Then, they followed up and stormed in on him at his residence. But before our men got there, the information had already reached there. But my men were fast to get him, and a second policeman in his house,” the police commissioner said.
He displayed three AK47 rifles, a sack of charms of various brands, alongside Corporal Enugu and Corporal Haruna Joseph. The police commissioner also took the governor to the front of the police van and pointed at a red sticker with an image of a machine gun with a chain of bullets, by the registration number, and said: “our investigation has shown that this sticker was put so that his members can notice,     separate   and spare him.” 
“This is just the beginning. It is like the beginning of a river, which is usually small; it will lead us to track down all members of the sect.”