FG Not Proactive About Security – ACF Bombs Buhari Govt

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has slammed the federal government, saying it lacks proactive steps in dealing with the challenges of insecurity facing the country.

Speaking on behalf of the group, the ACF publicity secretary, Emmanuel Yawe stated that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has shown that it lacks proactiveness in utilizing intelligence reports.

He spoke against the backdrop of various cases of bandit invasion of schools and kidnap of students, most recently the case of Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State where 121 students were kidnapped.

The ACF submitted that the government must take urgent and proactive steps in ensuring the frequent cases of attacks on schools and kidnapping of students are curbed.

Yawe said to Punch, “The best way to handle the menace of kidnapping is for the government to be more proactive in intelligence gathering.

“Once we have good intelligence we can act swiftly and stop kidnapping. The danger of allowing people to be kidnapped is that once this happens, getting them released through payment of ransom or military action becomes more complicated. This is the sad situation we are in on now.”

Meanwhile, the lawmaker representing Chikun/Kajuru federal constituency of Kaduna State in the House of Representatives, Yakubu Barde has urged the federal government to legalize guns to allow Nigerians to defend themselves.

Expressing worries about the growing cases of insecurity in the country, the lawmaker suggested that if criminals know that the person they want to attack also has a means of defending himself/herself, they would think twice before launching such an attack.

Barde spoke on Tuesday at a media briefing in Abuja against the backdrop of the recent abductions in Kaduna State.

Naija News recalls that on Monday, over 100 school children were kidnapped by bandits from Bethel Baptist High School in Chikun local government area of Kaduna.

About 24 hours earlier, gunmen had also invaded and abducted persons including babies and nurses from the staff quarters of the National Centre for Tuberculosis and Leprosy in Zaria, also in Kaduna.

Reacting to the incidents, Barde condemned the attacks and abductions and urged the government to legalize guns for self-defence.