By Armstrong Allahmagani (BAUCHI) –
Governor of Bauchi in North-East Nigeria, Senator Bala Mohammed, lamented today that kidnappings, banditry and other crimes are quickly spreading to other parts of the country.
Mohammed, who made the lamentation in an an interview with journalists in Bauchi on the sidelines of the Eid-el Fitir celebration, therefore called on the federal, state and local governments in the country, including traditional rulers, to rise up and tackle them, noting that they are threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria.
He said: “We are very grateful to God, it (Sallah) has come at a moment we ought to have a sober reflection but we praise Allah that we are celebrating in peace and not in pieces. The Ramadan has been a period of prayers and devotion.
“We hope and pray that Allah has expetiated our sins and we are brand new today and I have already sent out my message that, as a nation, we need to reflect deeply on our common existence because we are challenged by so many aspects of misdemeanors, crime and criminality and most of it are coming from us, that is the issue of banditry, kidnapping and the rest.
“We must be very courageous to say it and that is not something that is acceptable in the tenets of Islam, that is something that is very incombrious to the values of Islam and we should fear God because we don’t keep ourselves and our communities. We should have a change.
“This is escalating to other parts of the country, the issue of insecurity and I call on the federal government to do whatever they can. But certainly, it is not just the responsibility of the federal government alone, but that of the states, the local governments, the traditional institutions, our major leaders, stakeholders, we are all Policemen today.
“We know these bandits, we know where they stay and what they do, sometimes, they are aided and abated by us. We should fish them out because the Police in their numbers, because of the dearth of human capital, cannot fight this war, they are already overwhelmed and I am calling in the federal government to work with us as governors and local governments because that is where the solution is.”
Mohammed said that “the major federal government security architecture has failed” not because of any compromise but because “the situation is overwhelming.”
He called for a sober reflection on the issues bedeviling Nigeria warning that if nothing was done and the country disintegrates, the consequences will be severe.
The governor said: “I hope we will sit down as a country to reflect and make sure we bring solutions and we should restrain in our own responses and utterances because this country is so united, this country is so interwoven and if there is any breakages here and there as being muted by some people, the monumental humanitarian crises will be better imagined because I can’t imagine how it will be and certainly, it is a challenge.
“COVID is also around, we should be very careful with economy, we should be able to grow it, we should be able to have a round table understanding of our problems rather than escalating it in the pages of the Newspapers and the media.”