Bandits Dislodged From N’West/N’East Now Terrorising Nasarawa, Gov Cries Out

…Praises FG For Interventions

Bandits and kidnappers dislodged by the military in the North-West and the North-East have relocated to Nasarawa State in North-Central Nigeria, constituting a fresh security threat there, according to the Governor, Mr Abdullahi Sule.

He said the criminals had chosen the rocky terrains of the state as their hideouts from where they launched attacks on victims.

Sule had visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, on Tuesday, where he briefed the latter on the security situation of Nasarawa.

However, he expressed the hope that with the commitment of security agencies and local hunters, the bandits would not find their relocation to the state pleasurable.

The governor spoke with State House Correspondents as the meeting with Buhari ended, adding that local vigilance groups had also been engaged to comb the terrains since they were familiar with the environment.

He added, “The hunters, as well as the vigilante groups in Nasarawa state are able to follow because they are very familiar with the places.

“The criminals in Nasarawa state are new; they are not from Nasarawa state. As a result of that, our own people are more familiar with the ground and are able to follow where they are.

“We have some of the bandits that were dislodged from the North-West and the North-East and they found some of these hilly places. In Nasarawa state, we have a lot of rocky places and they have found some of those places comfortable; so they moved to those locations and as a result of that, we followed up to ensure that we tracked them based on what they do.

“There are people who actually go on the way to the villages and the cities and sometimes kidnap people; we follow them and we also have armed robbers. We have all the three in Nasarawa.

“By the grace of God, we have a very good Police Commissioner in Nasarawa; excellent Director of Department of State Services; and a fantastic Director for Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps; and they all work together, along with all the military installations that we have.

“We have about three military installations now; we have the 177 in Keffi; we have the Special Forces and then we have the Wild Stroke, all of them work together in synergy and we are able to make sure they help us in taking care of most of these criminals.”

He thanked the Federal Government for supporting the state to address insecurity.

Sule said he was in Abuja to brief Buhari on the security situation of the state and the fact that some elections were held there successfully recently amid the COVID -19.

The governor spoke more, “I came to brief the President on two areas; the area of security in our state and then the first post-COVID 19 election that we just had in Nasarawa state.

“We looked at the issue that you must have been hearing, about which has to do with our security challenges, of kidnappings and some killings that have taken place, where one of the traditional rulers was recently killed. I had to express great appreciation to the President, for accepting to set up the third mobile police training college in Nasarawa State.

“We only have two presently in the country; one in Gwoza, Borno State, and another in Osun State, and now we have the third one in Nasarawa state. It is set up at a very hilly place, hitherto used by kidnappers and armed robbers. At Gwoza, they call it the desert training; in Osun, they call it forest training; and the one in Nasarawa, they call it jungle hill training.  The project has been completed and we inaugurated it last week.

“I also used the visit to express our appreciation to the President for the military super camps that he agreed to set up in Nasarawa and both of them have been established and also the Air Force Special Forces in Lafia and the military Special Forces in Doma.”

He also spoke of how his administration had been supporting the security agencies with logistics to do their work.

Sule stated, “We are doing a lot when it comes to that. All the military or police formations that are sent to Nasarawa state, we play a key role in the allocation of the land and building of the infrastructure. We also support a lot with the needed logistics to make sure that they are well established.

“We also have a special relationship with them, especially the police; where we have now established community policing in Nasarawa state and we have also been able to use our vigilante groups to tack criminals in collaboration with the security agencies, especially when kidnappings take place. The vigilantes already know the terrains, so they assist in rescuing kidnap victims.

“I am very happy to inform you that even those who killed the traditional ruler were arrested last week.”