Nigerian govt to deploy soldiers on highways due to rising attacks, kidnappings

The Federal Government on Sunday said it will henceforth deploy soldiers to the highways across the country to prevent further attacks from bandits.

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, during his condolence visit to the home of the Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, made the assertion.

Mrs Funke Olakunrin, daughter of Pa. Reuben Fasoranti, was killed on Friday by bandits, along the Benin-Ore highway, and some other people kidnapped in that incident.

Osinbajo in his message during the visit, described the death of the daughter of Afenifere leader, as a massive tragedy.

Osinbajo who arrived at the Fasoranti residence at exactly 9:10am in the company of Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, said the Federal government will explore all options, including deploying soldiers on the highways, towards addressing the growing cases of security challenges in Nigeria.

Going further, Osinbajo said the Federal Government is working towards a workable overhauling of the nation’s security architecture, disclosing that President Muhammadu Buhari has met with all the Security Chiefs towards re-strategising on the war against security breaches.

He also buttressed that the Inspector General of Police has also laid out a new policy on community policing to enhance intelligence gathering while assuring Nigerians that the government is committed to providing all logistics to prosecute the fight against criminality.

His words: “As you know, I am here to commiserate with the families of Olakunrin and Pa Reuben Fasoranti.

Read also: OLAKUNRIN: Govt must ensure perpetrators of this ‘heinous crime’ face justice– Obasanjo

“This is a massive tragedy as you can imagine. We have seen it replicated here and there which is kidnapping, death and killings.

“As you all know, the President has very recently met not only the Service Chiefs but also the IGP and he has laid out a new policy of the community policing.

“One of the most important things in this sort of crime is that they are largely economic crimes, people try to make money by kidnapping.

“One of the most important thing is intelligence gathering that is why we have the community policing system where policemen would be trained in their own local government and they would remain there. This is as close as we get to the community policing structure that we expect to have.

“The other thing of course is that we are also engaging the Army so that there will be a bit of more military presence especially along the road. The Inspector General of Police has already committed to ensuring that there is full coverage of the police and even helicopters.”

He said further “to fastening the search for these killers and also to ensure that there is adequate presence to deter this kind of terrible situation from reoccurring.

“We are looking at the whole security architecture and trying to ensure that we are able to scale up and ensure that we are able to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.
“Security in a big county like Nigeria as you can imagine the challenge is dynamic and the we also have to be consistently dynamic to ensure that we are able to beat the challenges as they appear.

“I think that we can be very hopeful that we would see peace and calm as some of the steps we are taking come fruition. You know also we met with the governors in South West and in the different zones and everybody is coming to ensure that security is adequate and every feels safe and secure,” Osinbajo said.

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