Act fast, Nigerians living in fear, Governor Akeredolu tells Buhari

He spoke as Katsina State governor Aminu Bekko Masari, on Monday night, expressed regret over the amnesty he granted bandits in his state a few years ago.

Akeredolu, who spoke while receiving members of the Governing Board of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, led by the chairman, Ambassador Godknows Boladei Igali, in his office in Akure, said:  “The people are living in fear and something must be done urgently to address the situation and restore hope to the people.

“Look at what is happening in Zamfara. They try to clothe it and call them bandits. They are terrorists. So, the growth in science can not be based on just your charge but the conducive environment in the country.”

The governor stressed the need to make the country livable for the people, so they could harness their talents for national growth.

“To achieve Nigeria’s goals for science and technological advancement, the country must be made conducive for living, particularly for the young ones.

“For us in science and technology, we need to do more. Japanese, Chinese and other developed countries send people to where science is the best. We have heard of countries that send their people to the USA to train in science and technology.

“They didn’t stay there. They went back to their countries to develop them.  Commitment to one’s country is key. But we need to make this country a livable place so that the young ones will be confident and have hope to live in this country,’’ he said.

Speaking on open grazing, Akeredolu emphasised the need for the country to embrace modern ways of animal husbandry, describing open grazing as old and now  illegal in Ondo State.

“Today, I can say there are modern ways of animal husbandry and we have to take the bull by the horns.  We are not afraid to take decisions. Modernity has taught us that you can extract more milk from cows in a modern way better than when you take them from one place to another. It is about science. People have developed that science.

“I’m happy when I see Mr President go to Katsina and visit his cows. They are well kept. We must embrace technology of animal husbandry,’’ he said.

The governor described FUTA as one of the leading universities in the country, particularly in terms of research.

“We take pride in FUTA and its achievements over time. And I have had serious connections with FUTA not only as a governor.

“We have strong relationship with FUTA. FUTA for us is one of the leading universities of technology in Nigeria if not the leading one. One of our lecturers won the best researcher award in the country. I congratulate you,” Akeredolu said.

Earlier, the chairman of the governing council, Ambassador Godknows Boladei Igali, who was accompanied by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Joseph Adeola Fuwape, lauded the strides of the governor. 

Meanwhile, Governor Bello Aminu Masari of Katsina State has expressed regrets for granting bandits amnesty in the past.

His regrets came against the backdrop of repeated calls by Islamic scholar, Sheikh Mohammad Gumi that bandits be granted amnesty to stop banditry in the country.

This  is even as President Buhari also yesterday, gave marching orders to heads of security agencies to end what he described as selective abductions and killings, particularly in the North-Central and North-West zones of the country.

Masari, whose reaction came in an interview on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, on Monday night,  said with recent activities of bandits and information now at his disposal, he wouldn’t have granted amnesty to bandits as he did sometime ago.

Noting that the amnesty he granted the bandits then did not yield any positive result, the governor said: 

‘I wouldn’t have granted bandits amnesty, if…’

“The only thing I say is, with the benefit of hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it. Because at that time when we started in 2016, there were leaders (bandits) but gradually, all the leaders were eliminated, that was the failure of the first round.

“The second round after the 2019 election didn’t see the light of the day. We tried but then we realised that, ‘who are you talking to?’

“They are not under the same umbrella. They are not pushing for any religious belief. They are just bandits, criminals, and thieves.’’

He said bandits pose great danger to society as their mission is to steal and kill and should, therefore, be treated as criminals.

“The reality is, there is nobody in the forests that can discuss peace. For me, anybody in the forests is a potential criminal, so I think it should be dealt with as such,” he added.

He also hinted that his administration is considering banning open grazing in the state but insisted that before banning open grazing, provision would be made for alternatives.

Governor Masari had earlier on Monday, inaugurated a committee to monitor and enforce the recently introduced executive order in the state and announced a ban on commercial charging of phones.

According to him, this is part of efforts to tackle insecurity.

“The latest instruction we gave out is the closure of all commercial charging points in the most affected local government areas. Commercial charging, we believe, is also an area which is helping the bandits to acquire means of communication,” he said.

Ex-Katsina TV GM, daughter, abducted

As the interview progressed, the bandits were at their game, as they abducted the former General Manager of Katsina State Television, KTTV,  Ahmed Abdulkadir and his 15-year-old daughter, Laila, at  his residence at Bakori Local Government Area.

Although police authorities in the state are yet to respond to the incident, locals confirmed that the bandits stormed Abdulkadir’s house around 9:00 pm.

It was learned that the incident took place less than six hours after the state government banned all mobile phone commercial charging points in 18 local government areas in the state as part of measures to tackle the scourge of banditry. Bakori is one of the LGAs affected by the ban.

Also in the early hours of Monday, gunmen stormed Sabuwar Kasa village in Kafur Local Government Area and abducted four children of the village head.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday gave marching orders to heads of security agencies to end what he described as selective abductions and killings, particularly in the North-Central and North-West.

Buhari, who gave the order after briefings from security heads at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, commended them for their efforts so far, which he said are yielding positive results in the North-East and South-East.

The president’s position was made known to State House correspondents by  Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Usman Alkali.

He said the President also directed the security chiefs to redouble their efforts to restore security across the country to enable citizens go about their normal businesses.

The IGP 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 new marching order is that all the service chiefs and intelligence chiefs have been warned to go and reinvigorate efforts and do more so that the North-Central and Nigeria at large should enjoy better security.

“The President has also observed and made a remark that the constitutional responsibility of government is the provision of security and 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 school children and students are abducted, selective abductions and killings are done. This narrative must change.

“We have assured and promised him that we’ll make efforts to do more. He also thanked and praised us for what had been done so far, that we should improve much so that people can go about their lawful businesses within the quickest possible time.”

Continuing, the IGP, who gave insight into what transpired during the closed-door meeting, acknowledged the government’s responsibility to provide security for citizens, admitting that more needed to be done to change the insecurity  narrative pervading the North-Central and the North-West.

Also fielding questions, Minister of Defence, Major-General Bashir Magashi, retd, expressed government’s concern over the security situation in Zamfara State and the North-Central, and assured of the military’s determination to change the narrative.

He said: “We believe that the spate at which these things are happening in Zamfara State and North-Central  is a source of concern to the government and to all agencies that are responsible for the execution of operations in the North-Central.

“We discussed the need for urgency in our dealing with the bandits. We believe they’re becoming a nuisance; killing people, they are doing what they like, they make careless statements, they say what they think they should say in order to solicit the kind of audience they want from the society.”

Magashi said the meeting also   appraised developments generally which, according to him, require all hands to be on deck, with a view to halting the menace.

“We have appraised our position, we’ve found that we are capable, we can do this thing, but we need the cooperation of every Nigerian in order to ensure a free society,” he said.

Assuring of the preparedness of the security forces to end the menace of banditry, among others, in the country, the Minister said:  “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.”

On the status of the Super Tucano jets recently procured to enhance military operations in the country, Magashi said:  “We are just testing them, six are still coming maybe next 12 of them are here, I think the Chief of Air Staff will brief you on the operations that they are to undertake as soon as possible.”