Khadijat Saidu, Birnin kebbi
The Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasiru El-Rufa’i has said that the abduction of school children in Kebbi State portends a serious danger to the entire North West region.
El-Rufa’i stated this in Birnin Kebbi when he paid a sympathy visit to Govenor Atiku Bagudu over the abduction of students of Federal Government College (FGC), Birnin Yauri in Ngaski Local Government Area of the state.
“Kebbi was an Island of peace in a sea of banditry, and we were, therefore, very disturbed in Kaduna state when last week we learnt the unfortunate abduction of school children in the state.
“It portends a serious danger to the entire peace of the Northwest region,” he said.
El-Rufa’i also expressed his concern over the cases of violent affecting farmers and potential of agriculture in Kebbi, saying that the state has become the centre of rice production that all Nigerians need.
“I am here to commiserate with you, the government and people of Kebbi state over the unfortunate event.
“In Kaduna state, we have been experiencing this for sometimes; confronting the problem, we have been doing the best we can to manage it with the active support and collaboration from the federal security agencies, “the army, the police or the air force.
“They have been doing their best in their circumstances to support us, but we all need to do more and we all have to come back home and develop home grown solutions with the active participation of our people, our emirs and chiefs, community leaders and religious leaders to confront this monster,” he said.
El-Rufai expressed optimism that the problem would come to an end in the shortest possible time as the governors had been working together to tame criminalities in the region.
In his remarks, Bagudu, commended El-Rufai for the visit and prayer to stamp out the criminality in the northern region.
Bagudu recalled that since El-Rufa’i had championed series of meeting and joint coordination of seven Northern States, including Niger state, saying they had reduced the level of criminalities in the areas.
He told El-Rufa’i that, “When the attack took place last week, there were 22 policemen in the school.
“Also, some of the abductees, encouragingly, have been rescued by our gallant security services.
“The security have been very active and putting in their best and supported by vigilantes and community members that have put on vigorous challenge to the abductors.
“Last week, when I visited the school after the incident, I met heroic set of parents who were appreciative of the efforts of the security agencies, efforts of the school authority.
“The incident of this nature, it is really not a state problem, especially the incident involving children who represent our future.
“It is an affront on our future and whether it happens in Kaduna or Kebbi, it is the same tragic.”
Bagudu explained that such incident should not be allowed to intimidate the people of the areas or the governments.
” It is not enough to intimidate us. Your constant continuous calls that we must mobilise and dominate the criminal elements among us because no matter the capacity of the security agencies, no matter the equipment among them; experience among us have shown that it is the will power of the people of the community that would tell the criminals that they have no place in our society, “he said.
The governor commended the outstanding leadership of Gov. El-Rufa’i in mobilising other states for joint coordination to tackle the criminals in the Northern States.
