Army unwilling to do policing

The Nigerian army has expressed misgivings about performing police duties as it was recently asked to do in Odi in the south-eastern state of Bayelsa, ‘The Guardian’ reported the army chief of staff as saying on Monday. “We don’t feel too comfortable being called in to assist the police,” Major General Victor Malu said at a news conference in Lagos. “In future equip the police. Let them do the job for which they are paid.” Government troops, sent to Odi in November to arrest youths who had kidnapped and killed 12 policemen, were accused by human rights groups of causing extensive destruction in the town and killing civilians in their search for the criminals. Malu, explaining the army’s involvement in Odi, said that they had planned to carry out the mission without firing a shot. “People see the destruction, they don’t ask why,” the daily reported him as saying. “They were firing from the houses. If you stay in the house to fire at me, I will take down the house first and then take you.”