Illah Obadiah, Illah Christiana Clement

Keywords: Criminology, intelligence, Ombatse, violence, justice, police

Abstract

Alakyo is a small Eggon community that hosts a shrine for the Ombatse worshippers of Nasarawa State, North-Central Nigeria. The community has witnessed several communal clashes, including clashes involving the killing of security agents numbering over a hundred from the Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service in 2013, making it one of the worst security massacres or ambushes in the history of Nigeria. This study interrogates complexities surrounding the successful attack of over a hundred armed security personnel without a trace of the perpetrators and how that constitutes a lesson for intelligence criminology in the Nigerian security structure. The study relied on secondary sources in reviewing its stated focus. The research outcomes revealed that “Ombatse” is an Eggon traditional coinage meaning “the time has come”; a spiritual group linked to the Alakyo attack. The study concludes that failure of the security operatives to trace the immediate cause of that attack and track the whereabouts of the attackers in the aftermaths of the attack instills fear for subsequent attacks either by the same group or other groups in the future. The study recommends that government should ensure that law enforcement is aimed at building public confidence in the administration of criminal justice and carryout an overwhelming reform of the criminal justice institutions in the country in line with global best practice.

Author Biography

Illah Obadiah

Department of General Studies, Isa Mustapha Agwai I Polytechnic, Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Illah Christiana Clement

Department of Mass Communication, Isa Mustapha Agwai I Polytechnic, Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Email: [email protected]

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