The Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi has responded to the concern raised by a security analyst and Daily Trust columnist, Barrister Bulama Bukarti over the activities of the bandits in the North-western part of the country.
Bukarti had featured in a live Instagram programme hosted by Daily Trust on Monday where he expressed fears that the bandits may become too powerful to be reined in if care was not taken.
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However, the Police Affairs minister at a briefing with State House correspondents after the National Security Council (NSC) meeting said the bandits have been degraded.
“You see, these bandits have already been degraded. So, there is no way they can resuscitate themselves and take over. I think they have already been degraded, what they are doing is just hit and run kind of tactics. So, we don’t see any sign of them coming to takeover or overpower, I think they have been well degraded and they are just trying to show their presence in a very cowardice manner.”
Daily Trust had reported how some of the 26 girls kidnapped from their village in Faskari local government area of Katsina state were ‘raped’ by their abductors before their release.
Abuja-Kaduna road
The minister, while reacting to the concerns that police had abandoned Abuja-Kaduna road and the plans to ensure peace return to the route, said it was an overstatement to insinuate that the highway had been deserted by security agents.
He said the reported cases of attacks along the route should not be interpreted that bandits had taken over despite the 24-hour patrol being jointly done by the police and the military.
He said: “You see, once a small thing happens in a particular place like this Kaduna, we begin to talk about lack of security in that area. That place is being monitored 24 hours. There are police and the army who are on a kind of joint patrol on 24 hours basis. We also have our own separate police formation that is also on that road. I think it is an overstatement to say that that place is not being secured. People are still following it. We agree that there have been cases of attacks but these are normal things these people do whenever they have opportunity and we are equal to the task.
“Whenever this kind of thing happens, we pursue them like what happened just two days ago, those people were rescued. So, police and security personnel will continue to monitor this road and all other places to ensure that peace is to a very large extent maintained in the area.”
Policemen can’t be everywhere
On whether the police morale had been boosted differently to return to the streets to tackle the boldness of kidnappers going to people’s homes, Dingyadi replied: “Even this morning at this meeting, I informed council that the police are very much on their duty posts unlike what people are saying. We receive daily situation reports from across the states and that is a good indicator that the police are very much on their duty posts, they are also on the road and they are working 24 hours.
“But I will agree with you when you say that police are not everywhere. We cannot be everywhere because of our number, equipment but we are doing all we can to ensure that we cover as much as we can and to protect as many lives as we can to ensure that there is peace in this country.”
Asked to explain what the government would do differently to stop the purported use of monies collected as ransom to fund Boko Haram, Dingyadi said: “You see, we always encourage people to report these cases to the police because, the moment you take it upon yourself and continue to pay ransom, this will continue to occur. But if you report to the police, they will continue to pursue these people and in most cases we succeed in freeing these victims.”
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