Governor Sani renews call for state police

The sophistication of bandits underscores the call for the establishment of state police, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani said yesterday.

He lamented that the poorly-equipped men of the local security outfits cannot confront bandits who carry “sophisticated weapons”.

Kaduna is the hotbed of banditry and kidnapping in Nigeria with hundreds of abducted school pupils still in captivity.

Yesterday, the state Police Command through its spokesman, Mansir Hassan, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed the abduction of residents Dogon-Noma commiunity Kajuru Local Government Area.

The House of Assembly member representing Kajuru State Constituency, Usman Danlami Stingo, put the number of abducted villagers at 86. The claim could not be verified.

Although the state government had set up local security outfits to tame the raging insecurity sweeping across Kaduna and in some parts of the country, the situation remained worrisome.

Sani attributed rising wave of insecurity in his domain to the ill-equipment of the local security.

“Vigilance service cannot hold anything more than pump actions and these bandits, they come around with AK-47s and even more sophisticated weapons. That is where we are!” the governor said in a chat on a national television.

He added: “And in any case, that is the reason why some of us are insisting that we need to create state police. When you create state police, you will give the state police the legal authority through our constitution to hold firearms including AK-47s. Then those communities can defend themselves.

“But until this moment, the vigilance service can only work with the military. They can only work with the police and all the relevant security agencies to help them with intelligence.”