The Conference of Civil Society for Peace, Security and National Development has chided Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari over his claim the nation’s security service chiefs should be blamed for banditry in his state and other states in the northwest region and not President Muhammad Buhari who he said has done enough.
Such view the CSOs said portray the governor as been ignorant of the powers of the President and State governors in a democracy but at best indicts him for failure to provide information about the bandits which he claimed to have as the chief security officer of the state.
The CSOs in a statement signed by its conveners, Comr. Mike Msuaan and Mallam Adamu Kabir Matazu and made available to journalists on Sunday in Abuja maintained that the comments attributed to Governor Masari points to the fact that he has not shown serious commitment to the security challenges facing his state.
Recall that governor Aminu Masari had on Saturday blamed the service chiefs for the perpetuation of banditry in the state saying President Muhammad Buhari has done all it takes to ensure security in the region.
The governor while saying he couldn’t understand why the service Chiefs who are from the north could not help the region averred that bandits were camouflaging and living with the people.
“We know them and their parents,” the governor said of the bandits. To identify bandits in rural communities is not a difficult task, because you know his business, his farmland capacity, his livestock. “And if one day he buys a new motorcycle amounting to over N200,000 naira, then you must know that he is selling people’s lives”, the governor was quoted to have said.
But the CSOs maintained that its foolery that the governor has information about the bandits operating in his state but failed to give prompting to the security operatives but preferred to shift blame forgetting that he took oath to defend the lives and property of citizens.
“It is embarrassing that such comments were credited to governor Aminu Masari. We know for a fact that the primary duty of a government is to protect lives and property of citizens. However, when the person saddled with this primary responsibility begins to shift blame where he has clearly failed to do his duty we can imagine why the challenge of insecurity has lingers on for a long time.
” We wish to draw to the attention of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Katsina State, Amino Masari that it is double standard for Jim to claim the President Muhammad Buhari has done all necessary to guarantee security of the state and blame the service chiefs for continued security breaches.
“Elementary of government operations says it all that the President takes credit for every success of his appointees and equally takes the blame for their failures”, the statement noted.
The CSOs further added that a lot of successes has been recorded in Corning banditry and terrorism in the northwest and northeast to the admiration of governor Masari’s colleagues and wondered how he could remain uninformed about the situation.
” Recently, governors of Zamfara, Kaduna and others spoke clearly how progress has been made in curbing banditry. It is surprising that Governor Masari who failed to share information on bandits with security agencies would turn to accuse them of not doing enough. By this act, he has shown that he has more sympathy for bandits than the law abiding citizens of the state”, the statement alleged.
