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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has backed the call by Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai that the Federal Government be proactive in going after the bandits right in their enclaves and rooting them out.
The NGF Chairman and Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, said this when he led a two-man delegation of the Forum to Kaduna State to commiserate with the Government and people of the state on the recent Abuja – Kaduna train attack which claimed many lives, injured many people while several others were kidnapped.
Governor El-Rufai had warned that the terrorists will go on to attempt to subdue the country if the military fails to act proactively by storming their camps and hideouts in the forests, wipe them out once and for all.
Governor Fayemi, concurring with the Kaduna governor’s position, said: ‘I agree that we as governors must join hands with the president to deal ruthlessly with the bandits, that they be crushed, as you have always advocated”.
He noted that the primary purpose of government is ensuring the safety of lives and property, but that ‘the impression in the minds of most Nigerians presently is that nothing is being done by the security agencies in the country to bring an end to this.’
He described the attack as “mind-boggling” because of the huge number of casualties and other fatalities.
He regretted that the criminals were audacious enough to also take away some hostages which, according to the NGF chairman, raises the state of insecurity in the region to the point of uncertainty, which has virtually thrown Kaduna in the mix.
The NGF chair rued that ‘everything is currently unnecessarily revolving around 2023, the election year, which we are not even sure we will be alive to see with the prevailing state of circumstances and advised that more should be done towards securing the country.”
He said the North West of the country had been a region of calm and consensus before now and emphasised that whatever it is, to do, Governors will continue to put heads together along with the president whom he added is himself very worried about the sequence of attacks to bring sanity back to the country.
Governor Fayemi said ‘we are here to commiserate with you, your government and the people of Kaduna State, to show solidarity with them and align with the governor who as a public servant all his life, has been a focused leader who we must learn from to ensure peace in our communities.’
Before announcing a donation of N50 million the NGF chairman admonished Governor el Rufai not to relent in his efforts at building the state and told him to continue to be the leader that he has always been, concluding emphatically, that regardless of whatever anyone thinks, “Nigeria is worth dying for.”
Governor El-Rufai disclosed that there were 61 Kaduna indigenes still recuperating from the train attack, including a top government official and his 8-months pregnant wife and further stated that the bandits are currently hiding somewhere in Niger State.
He maintained that the attack was avoidable because the state government had tipped the Nigeria Railways.
His deputy, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, who also spoke on the directive of her boss, called the train attack a demoralising experience that she prayed the state never witnessed again.
She pledged that the Kaduna State Government will continue to do its best in supporting the security forces in the state to accomplish the task of securing lives and property while still working hard to find lasting solutions to the problem, in such a way that it never repeats itself.
