President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed concern over the spate of banditry in Zamfara state and North central.
He also reiterated the commitment of his administration to safeguard the lives and property of all citizens irrespective of their socio-economic status in the society.
Minister of Defence, retired Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi, said the president made this position known at the routine meeting National Security Council, which was presided over by President Buhari on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to Magashi, the security chiefs updated the president on the latest security situations across the country, including the renewed onslaught against bandits in Zamfara and other Northwest and Northcentral parts of the country.
“This meeting was called in order to keep the C-in-C abreast on the current happening in the Northwest and Northcentral, in respect of the improvements, problems and any other thing associated with the insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and the rest of it.
“From the meeting, we believe that the spate at which these things are happening in Zamfara State and Northcentral is a source of concern to the government and to all agencies that are responsible for the execution of the operations in the Northcentral.
“We discussed the need for urgency in our dealing with the bandits. We believe they’re becoming a nuisance; killing people, they are doing what they like, they make careless statements, they say what they think they should say in order to solicit the kind of audience they want from the society.
“We believe that we have gone a long way in keeping this country together. If one looks back, prior to our coming, 2014, you’ll find that there’s a lot of improvement, but people are not seeing it anymore.
“They believe probably we are incapable or there is something which we don’t know, but we are trying to find out why people are not appreciating the efforts of government.
“We have appraised our position, we’ve found that we are capable, we can do this thing, but we need the cooperation of every Nigerian in order to ensure a free society.
“Security, as far as this country is concerned, is the paramount important thing in this country, without security, nothing will happen and the Commander in Chief has emphasised this today that without security, nothing can go.
“So, he has directed us to find ways, tactics and style with which we can get out of this and we assured him that we’ll do our best to ensure the mission is successful and we’ll do all we can to ensure the completion of this mission, especially when equipment and other things are available to support the course of our tactical manoeuvres and that we’ll do very well from now,” he said.
On the newly acquired Super Tucano fighter jets, the minister said the jets were being tested while additional six of the fighter jets would arrive Nigeria by the end of September.
“We are just testing them, six are still coming by the end of… maybe next week. So, when the twelve of them are here, I think the Chief of Air Staff will brief you on the operations that they are to undertake as soon as possible.”
