Gov. Bala queries council chairmen over insecurity in the state (Photos)
Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
The Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Muhammed Abdulkadir has gone tough on local government chairmen over activities of miscreants and bandits in some parts of the local government areas of the state.
Governor Bala stated this on Monday at the new banquet hall in the government house, Bauchi when he led an extraordinary stakeholder meeting with council chairmen and some members of the state executive council.
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He expressed worry saying that the state which used to be the most peaceful in the North East but in recent times have been experiencing a surge in the activities of miscreants and bandits in some of the local government areas of the state, which has led to abductions, loss of lives and properties.
He listed the affected local government areas to include Alkaleri, Toro, Dass Ningi, Ganjuwa, and to some extent, Tafawa Balewa.
He queried the council chairmen of not holding weekly security meetings as earlier agreed since they are the chief security in their local government areas.
Governor Bala said that the insecurity situation in the state was becoming very worrisome as a majority of the population of the state live in the rural areas, pointing out that if insecurity continues to thrive in the rural areas, it will definitely pose a threat to the state.
He said in some areas, there are allegations that some traditional rulers, forestry officers and local government officials connived with bandits to shortchange the people of the state and any culprit caught will be punished.
“The chairmen of the local governments are the chief executives of their respective local governments. This insecurity, it would appear we have told them to be holding weekly meetings with the security agencies in their local governments, but they are not doing that and if they are not doing so.
“We have been lending you support to run your security challenges, you are supposed to work with the security heads, emirs, village heads, the vigilantes and the security agencies in your local governments, but you are not doing that. It is very unfortunate that the situation is deteriorating and everybody is looking up to the governor or the federal government.
“The community engagement is the most important thing in this, most especially when there is a lot of incidence of connivance between local government officials, even state ministry officials and traditional institutions with the bandits to shortchange our people at the local level, this is unacceptable.
“We will no longer tolerate this because there is nothing happening that we don’t get the report from the DSS. It is either you are nonchalant or sometimes forestry officers and those ministries responsible for settlements for forest reserves connive. I am letting you know that today, whoever connives and shortchanges, will face the music. We are not going to allow this thing to continue.
“This insecurity is not happening in the vacuum, somebody will not just come from somewhere to insecure us. We have been referred to as the secured state, but this is just a gimmick, we will no longer tolerate this. So, we are going to discuss all these issues such as land speculations in the areas where our forest reserves are being destroyed and bandits come to take territorial possession, after being provided with the rights of way by you because the local government authorities are under you”, the governor blasted.
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