Nigerians React Against Claim That The Country’s Security State Is Better Now Compared to 2015

Michael Ogunmefun:

Bello Masari, Governor of Katsina State has come under fire from concerned Nigerians for claiming the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has made great progress in the area of security and that the nation is more secured in 2021 than it was in 2015 before the advent of the current administration.

Nigerians are particularly embittered that the governor, whose state has borne a great brunt of the activities of terrorists commonly called bandits, can make the claim in the face of an alleged deteriorating insecurity in the country.

They also feel that though Governor Masari might have said that just to be politically correct and remain in the good books of the presidency, he should have at least considered the memories of the several indigenes and residents of Katsina that have lost their lives to banditry, the many students who are still traumatized and afraid to return to school because of what they experienced in the hands of bandits during their abduction and the many villages in the state that may never be able to recover from attacks carried out by the murderous criminals.

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The Katsina Governor stirred controversy during an appearance on Channels Television on Wednesday, when he compared security in 2015 with the current situation, declaring that things are far better.

He said: “When we started in 2015 in the North-West, it was cattle-rustling. Gradually, it now developed into banditry, rape, kidnappings. When all that they (bandits) can steal from the villagers along the fringes finished, they moved to the rustling of goats, sheep, and even chicken.

“What we should do and what government should do now is (about) high-profile kidnapping. In my state, they kidnapped four relatives of very senior government officials. When they cannot get anything to sustain themselves, they resort to high-profile kidnappings for money in cities and town. That is the danger, that is something we must work hard to stop.

“Let’s take 2015 for example. You cannot go to the church, you cannot go to the mosque. If I travel from Kaduna to Abuja, it will take five hours, three of those hours are for checkpoints. I will meet nothing less than 30 checkpoints.

“Is the situation the same today? It is not…Yes, there are kidnappers, there are bandits around but look at the whole world and look at the position of Nigeria in the Sahelian region. Are we not the richest? So, the attraction even for kidnappers to come to Nigeria is there. If you kidnap somebody in Mali, where are you going to get thousands? If I kidnap you in Nigeria, I get millions. So, all of us will have to rise to the occasion.”

Many Nigerians have condemned the claims, saying it is nothing close to the truth, that the governor stated the contrary of the country’s security state.