Atlantic Post

Benue, National Security, Nigeria, Public Safety

Police Deny Disu Ordered ‘Shoot-On-Sight’ in Benue

A storm of social media outrage met a swift police denial on Saturday as the Nigeria Police Force insisted that IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu never ordered officers to “shoot on sight” in Benue — only to act within the law, under Force Order 237, against illegal arms and violent killings.

Atlantic Post

July 25, 2026

2–3 minutes

Benue security, Force Order 237, IGP Disu, National Security, Nigeria Police Force, shoot-on-sight controversy

The Nigeria Police Force has moved to douse the controversy trailing reports that Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, ordered officers to “shoot on sight” anyone found carrying illegal firearms during a stakeholders’ meeting in Makurdi, Benue State.

In a clarification issued on Saturday, the Force said the IGP did not issue any blanket order of that kind, insisting that his remarks were being misrepresented online and in parts of the media.

The police said the Benue remarks were instead a reminder of Force Order 237 — the internal regulation that governs when firearms may lawfully be deployed by police officers — and the established Rules of Engagement.

In the Force’s words, Disu “did not issue any ‘shoot-on-sight’ order as widely misreported,” but merely reminded officers that they had already been briefed on the legal and operational conditions for firearm use.

The statement also said the IGP made it clear that illegal arms possession and killings “would not be tolerated”.

The clarification is important because the original report triggered immediate alarm in a country where security force use of lethal force is both politically sensitive and legally constrained.

TheCable, Atlantic Post and Sahara Reporters had reported on Friday that Disu said officers had been instructed to “shoot at sight” anyone carrying illegal firearms, citing remarks made in Makurdi after a stakeholders’ meeting at Government House.

The police are now saying that phrase was not a blanket policy announcement, but a misreading of his warning that armed criminality would no longer be treated passively.

Benue was the right setting for the statement, even if the interpretation of it became the problem. The state has remained at the centre of Nigeria’s worsening rural insecurity, with repeated attacks, mass displacement and long-running conflict between farming communities, armed gangs and suspected herder-linked assailants.

In June 2025, AP reported that at least 150 people were killed in a Benue attack, prompting President Bola Tinubu to order security agencies to hunt down the perpetrators and press for arrests.

More recently, the police hierarchy itself has taken a harder operational posture in the state. On 23 July 2026, Channels Television reported that the IGP announced a 14-day clearance operation to flush out bandits in Benue, underscoring just how sharply security pressure has risen around the Makurdi axis.

That context makes the current row less about a single sentence and more about how Nigeria’s security architecture is trying, and often struggling, to communicate force, legality and restraint at the same time.