President Bola Tinubu says his administration refused to negotiate with the terrorists who abducted schoolchildren and teachers from Oriire LGA of Oyo State because the government understands the terrain of the forest.
The president spoke in Abuja on Thursday while receiving
traditional rulers from Oyo State led by Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, the
Olubadan of Ibadanland, at the State House.
He said Nigeria’s security forces would continue to confront
criminal groups without paying ransom, reaffirming the decision of his
administration to establish state police and expand military formations to
strengthen the country’s fight against insecurity.
“Congratulations on the Oriire Oyo state rescue that
succeeded. I think we succeeded with your support, prayers, and I agree with
you that we should commend the men and women of the armed forces for their
excellent performance,” the president told the delegation.
“On behalf of them, I accept the message and I will forward
this same message on. I should emphasise
the question of security that each event teaches us new method, open our eyes,
challenge us to examine and re-examine our architecture, our strategies, our
map and operations.
“And you would agree that we gifting geographical and
numerical answers to the challenge. We refused to pay ransom. We have the
geography of the forest.
“We know what it is and in answer to it, you see that from
eight divisions, we are now moving to 12 divisions to shorten the response
time, to give that response time the teeth that is needed for us to defeat
terrorism and banditry. It is very necessary and we are doing so.”
Tinubu also said the government is taking steps to improve
security at the local level through the establishment of state police.
“We have equally embarked upon what was missing, several
decades of fears and uncertainty about what to do about security at the local
level will be corrected,” he said.
“There will be state police. And as state police will have
guardrails from abuses. We protect it from abuses.”
The president also called on traditional rulers to play a
greater role in tackling insecurity, noting that the government is enhancing
the capacity of forest guards to tackle criminal activities.
“We are equally enhancing the capacity and capability of the
forest guards. They are not just to chase antelopes and animals. We are going
to have them chase the criminals and deal with them in various forests,” he
added.
On May 15, gunmen attacked three schools in Oriire LGA and
abducted 39 pupils and seven teachers, including the principal of one of the
affected schools.
Days later, the abductors killed Michael Oyedokun, one of
the abducted teachers, while he was in captivity.
On July 10, the presidency announced that all the abducted
teachers and pupils had regained their freedom after spending 56 days in
captivity.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
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