By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Barely 48hours after another round of bandits attack, kidnapping and killing, Kaduna State Governor, Sen. Uba Sani, has insisted that the menace of insecurity plaguing a large portion of the North can be put to an end only when State policing is implemented.
The Governor’s statement came hours after bandits stormed the Gindin Dutse Makyali village of Kufana district in the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing 12 and kidnapped others in another fresh attacked within interval of 48 hours.
”In the last six months or thereabout, I have been insisting that we can only address the issue of insecurity if we establish state policing”, he said.
Governor Sani, in a one-on-one chat on Channels Television’s Sunday politics monitored in Kaduna said
”I am happy that some few weeks ago some governors joined me in agitating for state police that was a lone voice”.
”Some governors have also done a lot in the last few months by establishing or empowering the vigilance services”, he said.
Governor Sani however disclosed that normalcy had returned to the affected community and efforts were underway to rescue those abducted by the bandits.
He also noted that the measures employed by his comrades are ”temporary measures” at best.
”This cannot and can never address the state of insecurity until we agree to collectively agree to establish state police immediately,” he said.
Asked if he was looking to institute a local police network controlled by traditional rulers to aid in the fight against banditry, the governor was insistent that these forms of security outfits would be best suited to ”intelligence gathering and sharing all aimed at supporting other security agencies”.
”If you have vigilante service or vigilante groups or you have community policing, where is the law that allows them to carry AK-47,” he said while noting the law hinders these groups from being well-equipped with arms.
Kidnapping and banditry have become major problems in Nigeria, with criminal gangs targeting highways, and apartments and even snatching pupils from schools.
“Gangs known locally as bandits operate out of bases hidden in forests across the northwest and central states”, he restated.
