IGP says 21,296 suspects arrested in 2020 — but silent on ‘3,326’ killed

Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), says a total of 21,296 “highly dangerous” criminal suspects were arrested across the country in 2020.

Adamu also said in a statement on Monday that 3,347 firearms and 133,496 ammunition were seized during the year.

He was, however, silent on the 3,326 Nigerians who were reported to have lost their lives last year over insecurity.

TheCable had reported how an average of nine Nigerians died daily in 735 attacks and incidents recorded between January and December 2020.

The data did not cover those killed by security operatives, neither does it include deaths of suspected criminals or others such as Boko Haram insurgents.

Although the force headquarters and all the police state commands were reached for comments on the findings, none of them, including Frank Mba, the police spokesman, has provided the information requested till date.

In the statement signed by Mba, Adamu said the police will not relent in the fight against insecurity, and assured Nigerians of the agency’s “aggressive, proactive, intelligence-driven and community-based” crime-fighting strategies.

“The IGP, while reviewing the scorecard of police operations at the Force CID and Force Intelligence Bureau, revealed that a total of 21,296 criminal suspects involved in various violent crimes, were arrested and 3,347 firearms, 133,496 ammunition and 960 stolen vehicles recovered,” the statement reads.

“Also, 1,002 kidnap victims were safely rescued from their abductors and reunited with their families.”

What were TheCable’s findings in its recent data project?

• There were 735 reported attacks in the country in 2020.
• Killings were reported in all the months; September had the least with 171 deaths while June led with 451.
• Borno, Kaduna and Katsina – in that order – had the most deaths.
• Gombe had just one reported death from one incident, the least among the states.
• Kaduna was attacked the highest number of times: 78.
• South-east was the safest zone while north-east and south-west were the most attacked.
• Nigeria recorded 16 massacres – i.e. attacks resulting in more than 30 deaths – in 2020.
• The most prominent causes of deaths were attacks by Boko Haram insurgents, bandits, kidnappers and cultists.