The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, on Friday briefed President Muhammadu Buhari and justified why the Nigerian police arrested only suspects of Yoruba extraction over the recent bloody clash in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

Individuals and groups, including the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere and the Oodua Peoples Congress, had been attacking the police for arresting and parading 20 Yoruba suspects without apprehending a single Hausa/Fulani over the violence.

But while addressing State House reporters today after meeting behind closed-doors with President Buhari, the IGP noted that crime has neither tribe nor identity.

According to the police chief, the police usually apply the law once any criminal is found wanting, irrespective of his/her tribe and identity.

He said: “You know we are police officers. Crime has no tribe. If you are a criminal, you are a criminal. Crime has no face; we don’t look at crime in the identity of where you are coming from. As far as you are a criminal and the police find you wanting, we apply the law.

“If you look at that Ife crisis, if you see how it started, it was just a disagreement between two people selling food along the road. So, you’ve to look at the dynamics of the country itself. Obviously, when you’ve such a situation, we’ve to react to it. We had to move in to ensure we provide some security to the people.”