The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has launched a regional security outfit codenamed “Operation Shege-Ka-Fasa” in a bid to tame the rising spate of insecurity ravaging the region and the country at large.
It could be recalled that the Southwest recently launched a similar outfit named “Operation Amotekun” before it was pronounced illegal by the Federal Government.
But spokesperson of the group, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said in the past 12 years, the North has struggled with disabling challenges that include dwindling economy, rising poverty and more worrying, a crippling security situation that has taken a huge toll in lives, property and the overall cohesion of the region.
He said the outfit is expected to complement the efforts of the police, the military, the security services to detect, expose and defeat all criminals and carry out specific and general tasks that would realign the attitude and thinking of the public with the ideals and objectives of the founding fathers of the region.
According to him, “The outfit, codenamed “Shege Ka Fasa” is designed to be the vanguard of the entire North encompassing every ethnic group and religion and to be deeply patriotic in its operation.
“In addition to performing general complementary tasks for enhancing security in the region, the outfit shall also, coordinate operations against the influx of hard drugs into the North, take steps to neutralize all centres of gravity for the supply, manufacturer and distribution of such drugs and other dangerous substances.
“Coordinate vigilance to check and expose illegal arms trade, supply channels and possession and guard against the theft and illegal traffic in kids and other vulnerable sections of the northern population as well as expose operations of fraudsters like the Yahoo boys whose ill-gotten wealth forms part of the source of funding for the drug and arms trade.”
He called the attention of all governors of northern states to join their counterparts in the South-West and South-East by adopting and ratifying this initiative for northern regional security and providing the necessary legal framework for its operation in order to secure the lives of the people that are in constant threat.
He added that if the state governments and other leaders of the region fail to take action to protect the region the way their southern counterparts are doing, CNG is willing to follow through with all the processes of obtaining the required legal backing for the outfit from the relevant federal authorities.
He stressed that communities will not continue to fold their arms while criminals invade their abodes, kill, abduct and displace them.
