Governor Abdullaziz Yari of
Zamfara State, has responded to a comment against his government by the
Minister of Interior, Lt General Abdurrahaman Danbazau (rtd), that poor
governance is responsible for the persistent insecurity in the state.
Yari, in a strong-worded
statement on Friday through his spokesman, Mal Ibrahim Dosara, urged President
Muammadu Buhari to hold the Minister and “leadership of security organizations
accountable (of killings) instead of officials blaming the Zamfara state government,
despite committing billions to help our federal security personnel.”
Dambazzau
had fired at Yari on Thursday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja during a panel
session at the opening of the 67th International Press Institute Congress.
His words, “Good governance is
the final solution to the security challenges in Zamfara state. It is not the
number of soldiers.
“It is not good governance for
the governor of Zamfara state to say he is withdrawing as Chief Security Officer.
Even if he is given all the soldiers in the world, he can’t use those forces to
deal with those issues”.
But Yari wondered how a Minister
of the Federal Republic would expose himself and weaknesses in making such a
public statement.
Dosara said: “Is the minister’s
refusal to visit Zamfara as minister of interior who is in charge of internal
security, to assess the situation there, listen to and address the complaints
by the junior security personnel, sympathize with the people of Zamfara state
and offer professional advice that is good governance?
“Is the minister’s inability to
control the infiltration or influx of foreign agents with evil intentions into
the country, paving ways for criminality, that is good governance?
“Or is it keeping soldiers with
him cleaning his shoes instead of sending them to the front line that is good
governance?”, the statement quipped.
Yari lamented that a general, a
member of the nation’s national security council, a federal cabinet member and
a man who was chief of army staff, would engage in buck passing and
scapegoating at a time the people of Zamfara state are desperately looking for
decisive action from the federal government.
The statement added: “It is
totally misleading and insulting to the intelligence of Nigerians to blame a
state governor for the failure of security when he has no power and control
over the deployment of troops to fight the bandits and protect lives.”
Yari challenged Dambazau to tell
Nigerians why state governors in the Northeast, Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa,
Edo, Plateau and Benue states should be blamed for insecurity when the security
personnel are not answerable to them.
He explained that blaming poor
governance on him or Zamfara state would not help matters, adding that dodging
responsibility and blaming others for insecurity would not in any way reassure
the victims that a solution is in sight.
The statement further explained
that the Zamfara state government spends N600million every month for the
payment of allowances and logistical support to security agencies which are
under federal control.
It noted that government has so
far spent over N15Billion in support of security agencies,in addition to 500
vehicles provided to the security agencies in aid of operation in the state.
The statement said “Most of the
bandits and terrorists in Nigeria are foreign nationals, how do they find
themselves in the country if the ministry of interior under Dambazau’s watch is
carrying out its responsibilities efficiently and effectively?
“Is it not shameful on the part
of the minister that internal security of this country under his watch become
worrisome more than ever before?
“We are utterly surprised that
the minister of interior should be blaming the victims of insecurity instead of
making a case for Zamfara state for prompt and decisive action to defeat the
armed bandits committing atrocities in the state”, the statement lamented.
“We should also like to ask the
minister why he didn’t blame poor governance for terrorists attacks in other northern
states or why he thinks state governments should be blamed when they have no
power to order troops deployment.
“Blaming the Zamfara state
government by the minister is sheer blackmail, a diversionary ploy and an
attempt to protect certain people from taking responsibility for their
failure”.
The statement demanded a public
apology from the minister for blaming the Zamfara state government for the
failure or inaction by others, adding that at this point, blame game would not
help anybody.
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com