Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai says there have been positive changes in the security situation of the state over the past six weeks.
He said the deployment of Special Forces by the military is reducing the level of attacks in the state.
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According to him, if the methods currently being used had been put in place a few years ago, the security situation would have been better in the state.
The governor spoke on Thursday while featuring on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme monitored in Kaduna as part of activities lined up for the ongoing KADInvests.
Daily Trust reports that hundreds of people have been killed by terrorists and bandits while many have been displaced in the last few years as part of the campaign of calumny ravaging the larger part of the North West.
‘Military doing what we’ve been yearning for’
El-Rufai had for long been vocal about the alleged failure of security agencies to tackle terrorists and other criminals.
He had called for a complete aerial bombardment of their enclaves saying that was the only way to stem their excesses.
According to him yesterday, all that the state government had requested the security agencies to do in the last two to three years were now happening in the state.
The governor said the Armed Forces had taken the bandits out of the state.
He stated: “The latest tactic deployed by the military is reducing the level of attacks in the state and Kaduna will be safer if the methods currently being used have been put in a few years ago.
“I’m happy to say in the last six weeks, there has been a change because the military has now deployed Special Forces here,” he said.
“And they have taken the bandits out. The Air Force is bombing them. All the things that we asked for two to three years ago are now happening.
“If that had been done three years ago, we’d be in a completely different environment. Because three years ago, they were much fewer in numbers, we knew their camps, we knew everything about them.”
Arming civilian security outfits not an option’
Speaking further, El-Rufai said that local security outfits like the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun and vigilantes in other states cannot solve the stated security problems.
He said local security outfits do not have the necessary firearms to fight bandits.
He specifically described the plan by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State Ondo to arm Amotekun as a simplistic approach to combating bandits.
El-Rufai said, “The vigilantes are no match for the sophisticated non-state actors. Local security networks can only provide local intelligence. They do not have the firearms to face these guys (bandits). These guys sometimes even rout the military. So, people are speaking simplistically when they say they want to get an AK-47 for Amotekun. You do not know what you are dealing with.
“We know, these guys are very well-armed, they are getting arms that are sophisticated. Sometimes they outgun the military. Those vigilantes are not up to scratch.”
We’ll take action on Ak47 after one month
Meanwhile, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on Thursday said that the people of the state would take their decision on sophisticated weapons procurement if the federal government failed in the next one month to respond to its already written application to the appropriate quarters.
Ortom said his administration had for the past three months applied for a licence to legally procure AK47, AK49 and other sophisticated weapons for the Benue State Volunteers Guards to enable them to tackle murderous terrorists.
The governor made this known in his address during the passing-out of the second batch of the Benue State Community Volunteer Guard (BSCVGs) at the IBB square in Makurdi.
“I have on behalf of the Benue State government applied to the responsible federal government agency for approval to procure automatic weapons, particularly AK47 assault rifles to further strengthen your logistic support base and your defence capability.
“I am still awaiting approval from the federal government to deal accordingly. I am still waiting for the federal government’s reply after three months but if the federal government does not reply in the next one month, I will revert to my people and will do whatever they tell me,” he said.
Ortom, however, stressed the need for the 1,100 newly inaugurated volunteer guards who are an addition to the first batch of 500 personnel birthed on August 4 to work closely with conventional security agencies in the state to curtail insecurity.
“We will have 10,000 personnel before the end of my tenure,” he added.
The governor emphasised that the formation of the guards would help unprotected rural farmers, travellers and residents live a deserving life of protection.
“Towards this end, the Benue State government has already procured some essential equipment as permitted by the law and handed them over to the police for use by the BSCVGs for effective crime fighting. Motor vehicles and motorcycles have been made available to you,” he said.
NSA silent
When contacted to comment on the dateline given by Ortom, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu referred our reporter to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd).
When contacted last night, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) did not respond to Daily Trust’s enquiry.
Several calls to the mobile phone of the Head of Strategic Communications, Zakari Usman, were not answered.
He was yet to respond to text messages sent to him via WhatsApp as at when filing this report.
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