Insecurity: Why Yobe remains peaceful state in North-East — Gov Buni

Yobe State Governor, Honourable Mai Mala Buni, has explained the reasons behind the relative peace in his state compared to other states in the North East region.

Speaking shortly after receiving a Peace Building Award from a Non-Governmental Organisation, Peace Building Development Consult, on Wednesday in Abuja, Governor Buni, represented by Honourable Saleh Samanja, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, attributed the relative security in Yobe State to collaboration with security agencies and moral and financial support for military and paramilitary agencies.

He said: “He has been working in cohort with the security agencies. We bought a lot of vehicles and gave them for operational activities. We support them in whatever way we can, and because of that, we have achieved relative peace in Yobe State. And let me tell you that Yobe State is today one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria. This is possible due to the cooperation we give to the security agencies and the untiring efforts of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Yobe State, Honourable Mai Mala Buni, for being forthcoming with whatever the security may require the government to do.

“As Chief Law Officer of the state, he feels that he has both moral and legal obligations to cooperate with the security agencies to achieve maximum peace in Yobe State.”

Honourable Saleh Samanja described the award as “a morale booster for His Excellency to continue doing the good work he is doing as far as seeing that normalcy is restored in Yobe State.”

Also speaking, former Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, called on the Federal Government to create a pool of retired generals as a think tank to advise the government on tackling the security challenges facing the country.

He said: “What I am saying is that the system, unfortunately—especially in the military—harvests very young generals before they mature. Government spends huge amounts of money to train them, and you find that some of them are being retired at the age of 50, 55, or even earlier, and then they do nothing. You need to have a think tank in every organisation.

“Government needs to harness these high-level people. They are everywhere. You would be shocked—if today you call for these numbers—you would find a number of highly experienced people who had to leave simply because their junior became the Chief of Army Staff. So they had to go, and they are not being used. This is very important. We need to harness them to form a think tank to advise. They are not ruling, they are not going to administer, they are not going to take power, but they are going to contribute their intelligence to government so that government can benefit from what it spent on them. This is my call, and I hope government listens to it.”

Top officials of Governor Buni’s cabinet who graced the occasion included Honourable Aji Yerima Bularafa, Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Wealth Creation, Empowerment and Employment Generation, Yobe State; Architect Ahmed Buba Kyari, Honourable Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Yobe State; and Honourable Usman Adamu Kabarma, Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to the Executive Governor of Yobe State. Also in attendance was Brigadier General Dahiru Abdulsalam (Retired), Special Adviser on Security Matters to the Executive Governor of Yobe State.

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