IG Rejects Planned Mass Burial For Slain 12 Policemen In Bayelsa

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has turned down the proposed plan by the Bayelsa State Police Command to conduct a mass burial for the burnt and decomposed corpses of the 12 Policemen killed a fortnight ago by armed men suspected to be ex-militants. LEADERSHIP gathered that the Bayelsa Police Command led by Commissioner, Mr. Kingsley Omire, had been under pressure from families of  the slain policemen to release to them the corpses of their loved ones.But such request was turned down by Kingsley Omire with the claim that the identity of the deceased officers cannot be determined.
Indications however emerged yesterday that the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has kicked against request by the Bayelsa State command to conduct a mass burial for the 12 policemen killed by gunmen in Bayelsa State.
According to Police sources, the IG and other top police officers at the Headquarters argued that the idea of mass burial for the slain policemen is derogatory and insisted that a medical examination must be conducted on the mutilated bodies to ascertain their identities.
A senior police officer told our correspondent that the IG had already sent a team of qualified pathologists to conduct the examination. The Medical Team, according to the security source, is headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police, “they have commenced investigations”
“The IG has ordered medical investigations to know e identities of persons killed by the gunmen. The IG is against burying them in a mass grave despite the fact that their bodies were burnt beyond recognition. The inquiry is ongoing and the team which is led by an assistant Commissioner, a pathologist, has commenced the investigation”, he said.
Attempts to speak with the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr.Alex Akhigbe, failed as he did not answer his calls and neither reply text messages to him.