Insecurity: I Can Drive Alone From Abuja To Kaduna – Says Buhari’s Minister, Keyamo

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo has clarified his statement earlier on the nation’s security challenges, Naija News reports.

Keyamo who said he was quoted wrongly in some quarters earlier about President Muhammadu Buhari‘s administration bringing terrorism to zero, said though there are still areas under threat by terrorists, he can travel alone from Abuja to Kaduna.

The minister who doubles as the spokesperson of the presidential campaign of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said during an interview on Channels TV that he can drive without security escorts from Abuja through Kaduna.

Keyamo who was questioned on the bedevilling security challenges in Nigeria said: “Some people do, I can do it. I can do it. I saw headlines last week saying that I said insecurity has been brought to an all-time low by Buhari.

“I didn’t say so. It’s still the season of wrong headlines. I said what we met on the ground, Boko Haram in the northeast. I was specific and so they quoted me generally to say Boko Haram and insecurity throughout the whole country.

“I only said Boko Haram in the northeast, it has not been totally wiped out, but we have reduced this significantly.”

According to the Minister, all the roads leading to Chibok and Damboa in Borno state are now passable.

He added: “The issue of the farmer-herder crisis came to a height between 2017 and 2020. The World Terrorism Index said so. Not me. The body also said the attacks reduced so much in 2021. And further reduced again now in 2022. So, it’s a downward spiral in terms of the farmer-herder crisis.

“In terms of banditry and kidnapping, they are on the rise in the north-west and some parts of the middle belt. I have admitted that.”