The Kaduna State Police Commissioner, CP Olufemi Adenaike has said contrary to the report that one of his officers led the team that perpetrated the Dogon Dawa killings, his men made frantic efforts to avert the attack.
The Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Jibril Maigwari (II) had Monday accused the police officer in charge in Kuyello of masterminding the killings of his people.
But the Police Commissioner, at a press conference alongside the accused Police Officer (ASP Musa Shero), refuted the allegations.
?“This is why I would personally ensure that the man is investigated and prosecuted for massacre because what happened at Dogon Dawa was a massacre.
“The issue is not an issue of transferring the officer; it is an issue of taking the officer to court and (having him) prosecuted, which I would personally ensure”, he said.
In his defence, ASP Shero denied the monarch’s allegation.
He said: “On the 13th of October, I got a call from my officer that vigilante from Dogon Dawa had stormed Kuyello around 12pm and arrested four people and that they were taking the people away to Dogon Dawa.”
The accused police officer said he had also attempted to stop the arrest of the four suspected armed robbers.
“The head of the vigilante later called me and informed me that they had captured four suspected robbers and that they would hand them over to me the following day,” he said, explaining that he was waiting for the vigilante to bring down the suspects to him in Birin Gwari the following day before the community was attacked.
“I don’t know what became of the arrested four. But on Sunday morning, I got a call around 7am that there was heavy shooting at Dogon Dawa. I then called on the MOPOL and asked them to set out for Dogon Dawa, but they complained that there was no fuel in the vehicle,” Shero said.
Meanwhile, Fulani leaders who could not disclose their identity for security reasons said that Fulani herdsmen carried out the killings as revenge for the recurring killings of their men by the vigilante group of Dogon Dawa under the guise that they were armed robbers.