A Chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Yusuf Abubakar Dingyadi, has said that it’s wrong to blame President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the escalating insecurity in the North-west region.
Dingyadi said “the rabble-rousers should first blame the Governors for the unfortunate development in the region” and asked the President to call Governors especially those in the North-west to order, over their perceived failure to show full commitment in helping the Federal Government and security agencies to end the prolonged issue of insecurity.
In a paper on ‘Insecurity, politics and democracy in Nigeria; A reflection of yesterday and our challenge of today” at a function organized by Northern Coalition Group for Transparency and Justice in Kaduna, Dingyadi alleged that, the body language and constant bandits’ attacks in some areas were a clear testament of political colouration by the concerned leaders at the detriment of lives and properties of the people they’ve sworn to protect.
According to him, some of the governors have turned into “travel agents’, booking and leaving the country, abandoning their states, depending on zoom meetings and conferences, while their people were subjected to incessant attacks and kidnapping by the enemies within.
“Majority of our Governors especially in the Northwest are not ready to help the Federal Government in its fight against insecurity in the region. These are the same people that have traveled to the developed world, leaving solutions behind in order to attend security meetings without being able to replicate what they have learned back home in such a way that their subjects can embark on legitimate businesses.”
“There are also credible people within the country, many of who are professionally capable to advise and guide on the way forward. We have not been able to see what these governors are doing with the security votes because the region is still a hot bed for insecurity in the country despite billions of Naira allocated to it.”
“For example, how do we describe a situation whereby a governor will abandon his people for about a month and stay in Abuja while the people he sworn to protect are being killed daily without returning home to do the needful?”
“Some of these governors have refused to attend regional northern governors forum meetings to discuss solutions. Is it not funny that the same governors are lamenting that the FG is not giving them enough security support?
“Instead of blaming President Tinubu, instead of blaming the FG, why can’t they put politics aside, sit with the two defence ministers who are also from the Northwest and collectively chart a lasting way forward?”
“Look at what is happening in Zamfara state, where political intrigues has taken over the real issue of fighting insecurity; people of Zamfara are more important than politics because Zamfara is the epic centre of banditry.”
While commenting on the efforts of the Minister of State Defence, Bello Matawalle while he was Governor of Zamfara State,Dingyadi said, “during Matawalle, bandits don’t have the gut to go and attack any Local Government headquarters. Today, they have the gut to go to Zurmi and attempt to kidnap the Emir. They went to Maru and Tsafe where they kidnapped students of Health Technology.”
“It is only within this period of time, that the bandits have the gut to come out and launch attacks in broad day light, especially Local Government headquarters. As we speak, there are bout 20 to 30 bandits enclaves in Zamfara State.”
“In essence, if you cannot eradicate banditry in Zamfara, anything you do in the neighbouring states will amount to waste of time and resources because over 75 percent of these bandits have their footings in Zamfara”, he alleged.
Dimgyadi however, commended the military and leadership of the armed forces over several ongoing air and ground military and police operations in Sokoto, Katsina, Niger, Zamfara and in some part of Kaduna state.