President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday at the presidential villa, Abuja, met separately with four northern state governors to discuss the way out of the insecurity bedevilling the region.
Present at the meeting were Governors Aminu Masari, Abdulahi Sule and Darius Ishaku of Katsina, Nasarawa and Taraba states respectively, who all requested for assistance to end the insecurity situation they are facing in their states.
Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State had on Monday night met the president on the same issues.
Speaking to correspondents as he emerged from the meeting, Governor Masari stressed the need for northern states to collaborate to tackle the security challenges in the northwest.
He said unless there is such cooperation, bandits and terrorists will always get away after committing their heinous acts.
Masari, who led a delegation of elders from Katsina to the closed-door meeting with the president, said: “I think what is most important for us to succeed in fighting these bandits is for all of us in the states, especially the northwestern states to take the pains and work together to make sure that we block all the loopholes.
“But if one state has a policy and another has a different one, certainly they (terrorists) will always be moving from one state to another. Luckily enough, we are already working closely with states that border us, like Nasarawa and Niger, to bring the problem to a manageable and tolerable level.”
On the recent killing of the state commissioner of science and technology, Rabe Nasir, by assassins, Governor Masari said the incident had nothing to do with banditry.
According to him, it was purely a case of assassination.
He assured the family of the deceased and the state that security agents are working hard to unravel the cause of the murder.
Masari added: “The incident we had last week had nothing to do with banditry. It was purely an assassination by unknown killers, which the Police and other security agencies are working round the clock to unravel what happened.
“Because my commissioner was killed by unknown assassins and not a single pin was stolen in his house. So, you could see that this was a pure crime that has to be fully investigated for us to know the root causes and why.”
While noting that the measures put in place by security agencies have brought an improvement in the security situation in Katsina, Masari further said: “I think if we are talking about banditry, certainly, we have seen some improvement; we cannot say normalcy has returned but there is an improvement.
“When we had a comparative analysis before the issuance of the security containment order, what we saw in three months when we compared, was a drastic drop of over 100 percent in terms of the rate of kidnappings, killings and their associated crimes with banditry.
“So, the incident we had last week had nothing to do with banditry.”
• Sule hails support to Nasarawa
Also speaking, Governor Sule of Nasarawa State told reporters that he met the president to express his appreciation for the support being received by his state over security.
He said: “I came to express appreciation to Mr President for all the supports we have continued to receive in the area of security.
“You must have heard, there were several joint operations of the special forces; the military, the police, together with vigilante, the Air Force and the Navy in the two local government areas bordering Abuja and as a result, the various operations have been very successful.
“Recently, some of our schools were being targeted, we privately approached and actions were taken and then we thank almighty God that we’ve been able to dislodge those ones.”
On the Boko Haram insurgents that had gathered in parts of the state, he said they have now been dispersed.
“Those are the ones I have mentioned that mostly they had been dislodged because of the joint operations, even from the support we get from my colleague in Kogi State. So, constantly, we share information with Kogi State as well as Benue and a lot of efforts have been put into that and so far, so good,” he said.
However, he affirmed that despite the effort that has been put in, Nasarawa State is not free from insecurity.
“Well, nowhere in the world is completely safe, but to a certain extent, we can say we are. If you compare us with so many parts of the country, you can consider Nasarawa as a very safe place today,” Governor Sule declared.
• Ishaku seeks president’s help to import 2,000 tractors
On his part, Governor Ishaku of Taraba State stated that he briefed President Buhari on the recent attack on parts of the state by armed soldiers from Cameroon.
He said he requested assistance from the federal government to tackle security and other developmental issues in the state.
Governor Ishaku said: “First is that I came to see, Mr President, on security issues. If you remember, some weeks back, there was an attack in Taraba State, specifically, at Manga, which has boundary with Cameroon, it was invaded by the Cameroonian armed soldiers. They kill 11 people, including the chief of the small town.
“And I have not been able to see Mr President because of his busy schedule and his travels.
“So I’m fortunate today to have an appointment with him, to brief on details, about what transpired and need to give us some assistance in that axis. It was a very usual discussion and I am happy.”
He said he also told the president about the need for the federal government intervention to import 2,000 tractors donated to it by the Czech government, which he said had been long lying idle for two years.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents
In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.
and then