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The Kogi state Governor Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello has charged state governors to stop queueing to the Presidency for aid to fight insecurity, urging them to develop technical intelligence to deal with the challenges in their states.
The State Security Adviser Commander Jerry Omodara Rtrd. gave the charge through a lecture he delivered ” Citizens Participation and efficient Security Architecture, what we did differently” at a first Annual GYB Seminar for Nigeria’s Political and Crime Correspondents ongoing at Abuja on Saturday.
The state Security Adviser said the present administration in the state had on assumption faced series of violent crimes , but has to develop its home grown strategy to tackle the challenges.
Omodara disclosed that before the inception of the present government, between 2015 and 2016, kogi was a den of kidnappers, bank robberies and Terrorists who had established factories for the manufactures of Impoverished Explosive Device IED in parts of the state hinting that it took the pragmatic and technology driven Governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello to reverse the narrative.
According to the Security Adviser who blamed the insecurity of that era to the uncontrollable arms and ammunition in the hands of the youth who were being used and dumped for the prosecution of previous elections.
He added that the then security situation was worrisome as not less that 167 persons were abducted and over 15 banks were violently attacked with more than 51 lives being lost within short period of time.
He noted that the first thing the state government did was to identify threats and work assiduously using local solution , engaging, traditional rulers, vigilante and hunters, and empowered conventional security agencies through donation of logistics and morale booster which less than expected, the worsening security took a flight from the state.
Omodara explained further , that the governor instead of queue at the presidency for assistance, he took the bull by the horns through deployment of technology and native intelligence with quick result of being the most peaceful state in the country.
The security adviser advised other state governors especially those from Security threatened states to think within and outside the box using the resources available to them to solve their insecurity.
In his treatise, the publicity Secretary of Area Consultative Forum ACF Mr Emmanuel Yawe going through memory lane from the 60s insisted that Nigeria politics has been bedevilled with self centered politicians who used religion and ethnicity for decisive tendencies, saying that their utterances on national issues negate unity and coexistence of the country.
He informed that the North had always been in the vanguard of true fiscal federalism until the army struck in 1966 which aborted the cherished true federation for unitary government as declared by Major General Aguiyi Ironsi the action that has become albatross of the country’ s political developments.
While chastising those masquerading as religious leaders to foist a wrong way of lives on the other religions to stop their machinations, said Bokoharam and Maitesine riots of the 80s in the North was ignited by wrong notions of religious self style bigots.
He therefore called on all lovers of peace across ethnicity, religion and political divides to consider service to humanity as the panacea to social upheaval threatening the country.
Meanwhile, the President of the Nigeria’Union of Journalists, Chris Isuguzo appealed to journalists to set Agenda on all areas for the society lamenting that media men have unknowingly pass on the role to the politicians.
He appealed to Journalists that as the 2023 general election draws nearer, they should be alive to their ethical nuances in their reportage to avoid setting the country on fire, stressing that fairness, objectivity and equity should be their guiding rules in the discharge of the duties to the society.
