Weeks after Owo Catholic church killings, Nigerian police contradicts NSCDC claims, say no suspect arrested

Weeks after the shooting and killings of innocent worshipers at St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in Abuja, on Tuesday has said that no suspect has been arrested. This is coming days after Ondo State Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun Corps, on Thursday said some suspects have been arrested in connection with the terrorist attack on.

According to the Police Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, some of the items recovered at the scene of the incident by operatives are still helping the police in their investigation.

This is coming from the Nigerian police, weeks after the outrageous incident which attracted both national and international condemnation and led to more agitations for state police.

Adejobi, while noting that the police remained the only organisation charged with the responsibilities of announcing the arrest of people connected with the attack, said even though there had been rumours that some people have been arrested in connection with the brutal act, the police could not ascertain such claims.

The FPRO, at a media briefing on the upcoming conference and retreat for senior police officers, while responding to questions by journalists on update on the Owo attack, said: “I don’t want to comment on the Owo incident because up till now, there is no official information to us as the Nigeria Police Force.

“We actually instituted investigations into the Owo incident and up till now, we have not arrested anyone. But, whatever you heard, we heard things in the news, too; we heard like rumours, that some people were arrested by some people and by some group of people, so, I don’t want us to mix things together here. Let us just focus on why we are here, and if there is a need for us to address the world about the incident of Owo, we are going to do that.

“But, as I speak with you, we have not laid our hands on any of the principal actors in Owo, and we have not been informed of any arrest by anybody. But, I think the police are still working on the information that we have. When the team that was sent to Owo by the IGP got to the scene of the incident, they made some recoveries and these recoveries are helping us in our investigations. But all I can say is, when the Nigerian Police Force arrests the suspects, we will let you know because that is the statutory agency that has the right to say something about that incident in Owo.”