Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State says vigilantes are poorly equipped to face bandits who carry “sophisticated weapons”.
Kaduna is one of the hotbeds of banditry and kidnapping in Nigeria with hundreds of schoolchildren recently abducted (and still in captivity).
Although the state government had set up local vigilantes as part of measures to tame the raging insecurity sweeping across Kaduna and in some parts of the country, the situation remains worrisome.
Governor Sani has attributed this to the ill-equipment of the local vigilantes.
“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 on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.
“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.”
CDS Promises Return of Abductees
He said this on the same day that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Christopher Musa visited Kaduna over the recent abductions in the state.
During a meeting with the Kuriga community where the abduction of close to 300 students took place, the CDS described the incident as unfortunate.
But he assured them that the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) is doing everything humanly possible to bring the children back safely and to bring the perpetrators to book.
He charged the community to aid the military in tracking the kidnappers, as he maintained that the community understood the terrain fully.
