We will fight insecurity hands down, say governors

The Forum added that the governors would not succumb to those perpetrating insurgency in the country.

The Chairman of the Forum and Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, spoke on Tuesday in Minna when he led a delegation to Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani-Bello over the kidnappings in the state.

Fayemi said: “The agenda of these people is to destroy the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is their ultimate agenda. It is either we succumb to it or we fight it. And I can assure you that we will fight it with every fibre of our being. We will fight it to save our people.”

He said as governors they owed the people the duty of securing their lives and properties.

Fayemi added: “Our first responsibility as Governors is the security and welfare of our people. We do not want to lament because our people expect us to fix these problems. Our people want us to find a permanent solution to this cycle of violence, banditry, insurgency and criminality bedevilling our country.

“All our people want is to be able to sleep in their houses with their eyes closed and that is the duty we owe them. What this means is that we need to come together as a country instead of engaging in blame games either as leaders or as citizens.

“We need to explore every avenue to address this menace, we need to explore other avenues side by side with whatever the security institutions are doing. If that means engaging in dialogue, we may not have a choice but to engage in the dialogue. Anything that will help us deal with this crisis.”

Fayemi continued: “Terrorism, be it kidnapping, banditry or whatever name you call it, these are the remnants of the actors of the north east that have found themselves in other parts of the country. It is the remnants of terrorism that we are still dealing with. That is why we must not treat the north east in isolation.”

Sani-Bello appreciated the Forum for identifying with the people of Niger State at this trying period.

According to him, the Federal Government should do more to find a final resolution to insecurity.

“The time had come for us to come together and impose on the federal government to do the needful. There is a need for the federal government to proffer adequate intelligence and find a final resolution to this menace happening in our states

“Dialogue is great. We are working on securing the release of the students and staff of Kagara secondary school through dialogue. We will dialogue with the bandits because we have realised that they have different missions and reasons for doing what they are doing. We will dialogue to look at their causes in addressing them,” he said.