President Muhammadu Buhari has tasked heads of security agencies to end “selective abductions and killings” in the North Central and North West.
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, disclosed this to State House reporters Tuesday while fielding questions after a security meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Baba said Buhari directed them to redouble their efforts to restore security across the country to enable citizens go about their normal businesses.
He said Buhari praised them for their efforts so far, which he said, were yielding encouraging positive results in the North East and South East, but that “there’s 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 Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, said Buhari also charged the heads of security agencies to adopt new tactics and strategies to end challenges of insecurity across the country.
“From the meeting, we believe that the spate at which these things are happening in Zamfara State and Northcentral is a source of concern to the government and to all agencies that are responsible for the execution of the operations in the Northcentral.
“We discussed the need for urgency in our dealing with the bandits. We believe they’re becoming a nuisance; killing people, they’re 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.
“We believe we’ve gone a long way in keeping this country together. If one looks back, prior to our coming, 2014, you’ll find that there’s a lot of improvement, but people are not seeing it anymore. They believe probably we’re incapable or there’s something which we don’t know, but we are trying to find out why people are not appreciating the efforts of government.
“We’ve 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.”
Magashi said the government was testing the Super Tucano jets recently procured to enhance military operations, adding that “six are still coming by the end of… maybe next week.”
