President Bola Tinubu met with service chiefs and other heads of security agencies at the State House in Abuja in response to the growing number of security breaches that have occurred in several areas of the nation, particularly in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Kidnappers have intensified their operations in the past few days, taking many hostages and murdering some of them in order to force families to pay the astronomical ransoms they are requesting.
General Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defense Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, the Chief of Army Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogala, the Chief of Naval Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and several other security personnel were present at the meeting.
It is thought that President Tinubu and his security officials would evaluate the current security circumstances in various regions of the nation and suggest measures to apprehend criminals, including kidnappers and bandits, even though there has been no formal briefing on the meeting.
The meeting is taking place just hours after Chief Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, called his own security appraisal meeting in response to the violent acts of kidnappers who have taken to killing their victims without cause and demanding large ransoms.
President Says Kidnapping Is Disturbing and Ungodly
President Tinubu denounced the new wave of kidnappings and bandit assaults yesterday as well, calling the trend unsettling, evil, and menacing.
After hosting a delegation from the well-known Islamic Movement, Jam’iyyatu Ansaridden, at the State House in Abuja, Tinubu announced in a statement through his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, that all necessary resources, policies, and plans for the widespread education of Nigerian youths will be implemented shortly, even though security agencies are moving quickly to address the current crisis.
According to the president, education is the remedy for the problems rocking the country.
“Learning is the most powerful weapon against poverty that exists.” We are here to improve the lives of our people, and I can promise you that. Our goal in being here is to advance economic growth, peace, and stability.
With an emphasis on providing our kids with a thorough education, we are committed to establishing a durable peace. We intend to engage educators and their proprietors in a learning process that is pertinent to the future of this nation. It is crucial. Your prayers and support, together with knowledge, have guided me to this point. Without information, humanity has nothing to look forward to, according to Tinubu.
In order to accelerate development in the area, in Nigeria, and throughout Africa, the president further underlined the significance of providing youngsters in Northern Nigeria with up-to-date information through the already-existing Islamic learning institutions.
“Please start providing our youngsters with a decent education. Banditry and kidnapping are not God’s ways. It’s not good to shed each other’s blood.
Furthermore, without peace, progress is impossible. Poverty can only be eradicated in a peaceful environment. To improve economic growth, we need to work toward peace,” the president continued.
Sheikh Muhammad Lamine Niass, the leader of Jam’iyyatu Ansaridden, affirmed in his remarks that his movement, which is known for promoting peace and tolerance, would continue to pray for Nigeria’s peaceful development while encouraging the president to carry out his reform initiatives.
DIG Is Given The Order To Crush Kidnappers
The deputy inspector-general of operations has been instructed by IGP Kayode Egbetokun, the inspector general of police, to take the issue head-on in light of the recent kidnappings that have occurred in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as well as other events of a similar nature nationally.
The IGP issued this directive on Monday during a meeting with the Force management team and tactical squads at Force headquarters in Abuja, according to ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the Force public relations officer.
During the discussion, the IGP conveyed his profound worry about the horrible acts and emphasized the necessity of taking swift action to stop them.
Throughout the conference, which focused on a thorough examination of present security issues, tactical resource deployment to counter new threats and strategic planning, the IGP underlined the necessity of a coordinated and intelligence-driven strategy to deal with the changing security environment.
According to ACP Adejobi, “The Inspector General of Police (IGP) directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Department of Operations, to personally oversee the enhanced security measures implemented to completely
kidnappers and other criminals in the Federal Capital Territory, and promptly return things to normal.
“The IGP emphasized the value of community engagement and collaboration with pertinent stakeholders in addition to operational strategies to gather information, enhance trust, and foster a collective effort in combating criminal elements.”
…Wike Issues Marching Orders to Area Council Chairmen
In response to the growing number of kidnapping cases in the nation’s capital, Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), summoned an emergency security conference yesterday.
Gunmen have been entering neighborhoods, breaking into homes, and removing victims while they are still comfortable.
Recent events that sparked unrest in the nation’s capital included the announcement of Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar’s death, She was abducted in the Sagwari Estate Layout in the Dutse-Alhaji Area of Abuja together with eleven other people, including three of her siblings and their mother.
The Nigerian Bar Association was contacted by the late Folashade Ariyo’s father, Mr. Oladosu Ariyo, seeking assistance after the kidnappers killed Folashade Ariyo and two other victims and demanded N700 million in ransom for the other captives.
Speaking during the meeting, the minister gave inhabitants of the Federal Capital Region the reassurance that their safety is guaranteed and that the government is striving to provide security agents with all they need to combat instability.
Those present were council chairmen, senior FCT administration officials, leaders of security agencies, and traditional rulers.
Wike emphasized the necessity for the security agencies to re-strategize and redouble their efforts to control instability in the territory, cautioning the area council chairmen to be aware of their role at the local levels.
“We are all aware of the security situation in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), especially in Bwari and few other locations that have had security incidents. We are concerned because, as representatives of the Federal Capital Territory and almost all Nigerians, we have an obligation to ensure that this location is secure, to take all reasonable steps to reassure local Nigerians that there is no need for alarm.We are making every effort to ensure that those obstacles are ones that need to be overcome.
Therefore, the purpose of this discussion is to practically examine these concerns and determine how best to address them. We invited each of the council chairmen for this reason, as they are also accountable to their own area councils.
We shall thus pool our minds and devise answers. I just wanted to let the press know that we are not sleeping, and neither are the security services. To assuage the inhabitants’ anxieties, we will offer them all the help they need,” he declared.
Wike said that he would not be pleased to learn that chairmen of area councils are vacating their positions and taking time off, particularly when there are security concerns in their respective areas.
According to sources, council chairmen are known to travel at any moment. In the event of an emergency, they will naturally contact the FCT minister rather than naming specific individuals.
He stated, “We have invited them to a meeting this afternoon to see how we can also resolve the problem, but we cannot fold our hands.”
In a similar vein, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has started sanitizing every motor park on the grounds to address environmental deterioration, stop the spread of illegal motor parks in the nation’s capital, and address one-chance security issues.
Mukhtar Galadima, the director of the FCTA Department of Development Control, informed the managers of the motor parks of this yesterday at a sensitization session in advance of today’s full enforcement.
Galadima clarified that, in keeping with the goals of the Nyesom Wike-led FCT Administration, the action was also a part of plans to tidy up the parks and remove any unlawful ones.
“In order to make the city more aesthetically pleasing and functional, we want to make sure that the operators of these motor parks comply with the provisions of the FCT plan, as well as development guidelines,” he stated.
The director said that the parks will be turned over to the appropriate government organizations to stop future mistreatment after they had been cleaned and their environs sanitized.
Additionally, he proposed giving the Transportation Secretariat the cleaned-up parks so that qualified administrators could oversee them.
Motor parks will become havens for criminals if they are not used for their original purpose, according to Dr. Peter Olumuji, secretary of the Command and Control Unit, Department of Security Service, FCTA.
Gunmen Kill Seven in a Community Attack in Nasarawa
Following an attack on the Kudu village in the Toto local government area of Nasarawa State, seven individuals are thought to have died.
We heard that the majority of people living in Kudu are Gbagyi farmers.
The armed militias stormed the neighborhood on Sunday, bringing with them reports of fatalities and devastation.
An unspecified number of homes were displaced by the attack, according to a source who talked with our correspondent in confidence and said that many residences were destroyed.
According to a different version, the event happened when the Bassa gang invaded a village where the Gbagyi people had settled to engage in farming.
He said that long-term anxiety over the development had built up until it finally broke.
Remember that there had been a protracted ethnic strife in the impacted local government region between the Bassa and Ebira clans.
It was discovered that the Bassa had been driven out of several settlements inside the Toto local government region due to the war.
The Bassa have been pleading with governmental actors to step in and allow them to return to their ancestral lands.
Governor Abdullahi Sule has pledged to investigate the growing security breaches in the interim.
Governor Sule stated that although the issue was not on the agenda for the meeting, the fact that some lives were lost in the intrusion made it imperative to put it before the executive council.
In addition to reassuring everyone that security forces have already been sent to the region, the governor revealed that the villages of Gbagyi, Ebira, and Bassa would be gathering to discuss the general mistrust and seeming hostility amongst them.
We will be able to find out why, as the security services have already moved in. Most crucial, though, is that the Gbagyi community will assemble as soon as we get back from Abuja.
the towns of Ebira and Bassa, therefore ultimately, we must put an end to this. This tragic cycle cannot continue,” he said.
The state’s public relations officer, DSP Ramhan Nansel, did not answer calls, therefore our correspondent was unable to quickly receive information about the development from the police authorities in the state.