Banditry is gradually turning into insurgency, northern govs tell Buhari

The Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Monday met with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja over the worsening insecurity in that region.

At the meeting which held behind closed doors at the State House, the governors told Buhari that banditry in the area, especially in the North West, is gradually graduating into another insurgency.

The meeting was attended by 10 of the 19 northern governors. The attendees were Kashim Shettima (Borno), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Aminu Bello Masari (Katisna) and Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto).

Others were Muhammad Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger), and Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara).

Masari, who was directed by the governors to brief newsmen at the end of the meeting said, “The issue that brought us to the President is about the rising insecurity in the North West, North Central and North East. North East is known for Boko Haram insurgency, but of recent, what was known to be cattle rustling in North West and some parts of North Central has turned out to be something different from what we had before.

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“So, this concern made us to come and brief the president so that urgent action would be taken in order to curb this deadly menace of banditry which is gradually graduating into insurgency. You know the North West with a vast forest area going to North Central and then even going out of Nigeria.

“So, we need to act quickly and decisively so that it doesn’t turn into something else like what we had in the North East.”

By Ebere Ndukwu …

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