Nasarawa state Governor Abdullahi Sule has said the bandits dislodged from the North-west and North-east were responsible for the insecurity in the state because of its hilly and rocky terrain.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Tuesday, the governor said hunters and vigilante groups were tracking the bandits because the former were more familiar with the hilly terrain.
He said the state government would not rest on its oars in apprehending the criminals through the hard work of the military, police and members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
“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. So, as a result of that, our own people are more familiar with the ground and are able to follow where they are.
“We have both; 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’ve 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 track them based on what they do.
“There are people who actually go on the way to the villages and the cities and sometimes kidnapped people and 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 DSS and a fantastic Director for Civil Defense, 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 said.
The governor, who commended the federal government for support in the area of addressing insecurity, said his visit was to brief the president on the security challenges and the success of the election in the state amid COVID-19 challenges.
“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 and it is set up at a place which is very hilly, which was hitherto used by kidnappers and armed robbers. So 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 said.
Sule further said the state government has been giving the needed support to the military and other security agencies operating in the state.
“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 tackle criminals in collaboration with the security agencies, especially when kidnappings take place because the vigilantes already know the terrain 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. So, continuously, we support all the security agencies because security for us in Nasarawa state is paramount because we are having many investors who can only succeed if there is security,” he said.
Niger
Meanwhile, no fewer than three soldiers and one vigilante member were killed by gunmen in Yakila area of Rafi local government of Niger state during an operation to rescue an expatriate kidnapped last week in the area.
It was learnt that the bandits also suffered heavy casualty during the operation while others were captured alive during the encounter.
It was however not clear if the expatriate, identified as a Chinese and his driver were successfully rescued.
The bandits were said to have engaged the soldiers in exchange of fire in their numbers on motorcycles in Yakila village of Rafi local government of the state.
According to reports, the attack followed the abduction of a Chinese expatriate alongside his driver at a construction firm in Yakila village by the gunmen, following which the security agencies trailed them.
A source who pleaded anonymity said: “The soldiers and vigilante members were at Yakila to rescue the Chinese expatriate and his driver who were abducted by gunmen but lost their lives in an exchange of gunfire with bandits numbering about thirty.”
In a different account, another source said two motorcycles were seen inside military Hilux vehicle with one arrested person whose face was tied with cloth, adding that corpses of the attackers suspected to be bandits were also sighted in a bus but could not tell the exact number.
Police Public Relations Officer Niger state command ASP Wasiu Abiodun did not respond to calls to confirm the incident at the time of this report.
However, senior special assistant to the governor on security matters, Colonel MK Maikundi (retd) confirmed the incident.
He said security agencies had mobilised and re-strategised in the general area where they also killed some bandits.
