Boko Haram: 5,000 police officers to guard President during Tuesday's visit to Sokoto

Worried by the worsening security situation in most parts of the north following the increasing bombing activities by the extremist Boko Haram sect, the police in Sokoto say they are working out an extensive security arrangement to guarantee the safety of President Goodluck Jonathan and his entourage as he embarks on an official visit to the state Tuesday.

The state commissioner of police, Aliyu Musa, said on Monday that about 5,000 police personnel have been mobilised to provide effective security during the presidential visit to the seat of the caliphate.

That is in addition to the personnel of Brigade of Guards and operatives of the State Security Service who would also be on hand to provide massive protective cover for the president.

The army base in Sokoto as well as operatives of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps will also deploy massively to ensure that the president arrives and departs the state, which has a huge Boko Haram presence, unhurt.

 
Mr. Musa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sokoto that the police have taken various security measures to provide adequate cover for the president and his entourage throughout their stay in the state.

Police officers in Nigeria are usually busy guarding public officials and moneybags, and there are usually very few of them to patrol streets and check crimes.

With the Easter Day bombing in which no fewer than 40 lives were lost and scores of others wounded, security operatives are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that they are not taken unawares, as the group is said to have threatened to unleash more mayhem in different parts of the region.

Mr. Musa said assistant commissioners of police in the state have been assigned to each of the identified routes Mr President would pass on his way to the city from the airport, adding that officers had also been briefed on security modalities to adopt during and after the visit.

While urging the people to cooperate with the security agencies during the period of the visit, the commissioner said the command would put in place sensitive security measures that would sustain peace in the state.

“All we expect from members of the general public is intelligence reports that will help us strategise our mode of operation in the task of building a safe society,” he said.

He called on officers and men of the command to continue to put in their best as hard working ones would always be rewarded while the indolent ones are sanctioned.