President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed concern over the spate of insecurity in the land, and therefore directed heads of security agencies to secure the country to ensure citizens live peacefully.
Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (retd) quoted the president as giving the marching order Tuesday during a meeting with the service chiefs and other heads of security agencies in Abuja.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, the minister said the current security challenges troubling some parts of the country remained a source of concern, assuring that everything would be done to address the problem.
“This meeting was called in order to get the Commander-in-Chief abreast with what is happening in the North-West and North-Central in respect of the improvement in problems and any other thing associated with insurgency, kidnapping, banditry and the rest.
“The meeting agreed that the rate at which these things are happening in Zamfara state is a source of concern to the government and all agencies that are responsible for the execution of the operations in the North-Central.
“We discussed the need for urgency in our dealing with the bandits. We believe they are becoming a nuisance and doing what they like; killing people, making careless statements, all in order to solicit the kind of audience they need from the society.
“We believe that we have gone a long way in keeping this country together because there’s a lot of improvement from the way the country was before this administration came into office but some people are not appreciating the effort of government,” he said.
Magashi further assured that the military and all security agencies were capable of containing the situation and they would ensure all forms of criminality are brought to an end.
“We have appraised our position, we’ve found out that we are capable, we can do this thing but we need the cooperation of every Nigerian in order to ensure a free society.
“Security, as far as this country is concerned, is the paramount important thing in this country, without security, nothing will happen and the Commander-in-Chief has emphasised this today that without security, nothing can go.
“So, he has directed us to find ways, tactics and style with which we can get out of this and we assured him that we’ll do our best to ensure the mission is successful and we’ll do all we can to ensure the completion of this mission, especially when equipment and other things are available to support the course of our tactical manoeuvres and that we’ll do very well from now,” the minister said.
Also speaking, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, said President Buhari directed all security agencies to bolster their effort towards finding lasting solution to all the security challenges in the country.
He said: “Yes, we had a brief security meeting, Service Chiefs and the intelligence chiefs have been able to brief the president on the security situation of the country.
“The president has also observed and made a remark that the constitutional responsibility of government is the provision of security, is one and is foremost and he is ready to provide such, we should reinvigorate our efforts, which are yielding results in the North-East, South-East. But there is more to be done in the North-Central, North-West, where people are worried and he has intelligence and information that schoolchildren and students are abducted, selective abductions and killings are done. This narrative must change.”
The IGP said the police, in collaboration with other security agencies, would not relent in their effort to address the problem.
“We have assured him and promised him that we ‘ll make efforts to do more. He’s also thanked and praised us for what has been done so far, that we should improve much so that people can go about their lawful businesses within the quickest possible means.
“The new marching order is that all the service chiefs and intelligence chiefs have been warned to go and reinvigorate efforts and to do more so that the North central and Nigeria at large should enjoy better security,” Baba further said.
300 killed in Shiroro
Meanwhile, bandits have reportedly killed over 300 people, displaced 3,000 others and destroyed valuables worth billions of Naira in Niger East Senatorial District of Niger state in the last couple of months.
The lawmaker representing the area at the National Assembly, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa stated this Tuesday in a statement in Minna.
He said: “In the last couple of months, not less than 3,000 people have been displaced and are now living in IDP camps with not less than 300 losing their lives and valuables worth billions of Naira either destroyed or stolen by the marauders.”
He lamented that the bandits had been operating with reckless abandon in the last few months, saying “it is disturbing and of great concern that the bandits again stormed communities in Shiroro Local Government of my constituency last week and slaughtered 20 innocent villagers.”
Musa described the incident as not only wicked and callous but a gross act of man’s inhumanity to man and therefore unacceptable.
He said: “To slaughter innocent villagers like goats taken to the alter for sacrifice is totally unacceptable, we should therefore do everything possible to bring these criminals to justice.”
He said “the time has now come for all the levels of government to collaborate to bring the daily loss of lives in Shiroro local government area and other parts of Niger East Senatorial district to an end.
“Our people can no longer go about their normal farming business because of the activities of these bandits.”
He called on the federal government to restore security operatives to Bassa, Magami and Kukokki towns which were withdrawn few months back, and to also establish a military base on the border between Shiroro local government area and Kaduna state.
18 kidnapped in Kaduna
In a related development, bandits Monday night stormed Keke community in Millennium City, Chikun local government area of Kaduna state and abducted not less than 18 people.
A resident of the area, who spoke under anonymity, said the bandits came in large numbers through a neighbouring community around 11:30pm and started shooting sporadically into the air.
“They came in large numbers and as soon as the bandits stormed our community, they blocked the major road thereby preventing residents from escaping or visitors from coming in to assist us. They started moving from house to house chasing the people out of their houses.
“At the end of it, after they have left with the people they abducted, we discovered that 18 people were kidnapped and taken to an unknown destination. Most of the victims kidnapped were women and children. We have lodged formal complaint with the police and they have come to survey the area,” the source said.
Blueprint recalled that the kidnapping was coming about a year after Keke and neighbouring communities in Millennium City suffered cases of abductions during which residents were whisked away for ransom.
As at the time of this report, neither the Kaduna state Police Command nor the state Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs commented on the incident.
