Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed has said commended President Bola Tinubu, the National Security Adviser and Security Agencies for the aggression against bandits and terrorists in Alkaleri Local Government Area of the State which has led to the killing of thousands of them within two weeks.
He said that security agents have recorded so much success in the fight against the terrorists in the local government area which has been bedevilled by terrorists activities in recent times, with the settlement of 20,000 bandits decimated and disrupted.
The Governor stated this while addressing journalists at a press conference at the end of an emergency security meeting held on Monday at the Government House, Bauchi, with the Heads of Security Agencies in the State, the Emir of Duguri and traditional rulers from Alkaleri LGA, top officials of the State Government, Local Government Chairmen of Bauchi, Alkaleri, Kirfi and Tafawa Balewa, among others, present.
He said that although the security situation was beyond what the government thought it was, the situation has been brought to normalcy through the activities of very articulate professional deployment of security persons across security services.
According to him, as part of the successes recorded in the onslaught against the terrorists, thousands of motorcycles belonging to the bandits were destroyed, their supply and logistics chain for food, fuel and movement corridors have all been also destroyed and disrupted.
He said: “We’re happy to address this press conference to express our deepest gratitude to Allah and to His Excellency, Mr. President, Commander-In-Chief, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the office of the National Security Adviser and the Service Chiefs, the IGP, the Director SSS, the Chief of Army Staff and other Service Chiefs for the very monumental security situation that we were able to achieve in Bauchi after the intervention of Mr. President. This was based on the plea and the request we made as a government of Bauchi State, because of the serious security challenges we are facing in Alkaleri Local Government, most especially, on the contiguous states like Plateau, Taraba and Gombe States.
“We are happy to say that the situation has been brought to a normalcy whereby the activities of very articulate professional deployment of security persons across the services brought some normalcy to the area. To our amazement, the security situation was worst than what we thought because of the preponderance of settlements of bandits, 10,000 to 20,000, that were around the forest of Dajin Madam and another forest in Taraba and some communities around Bauchi State; all those places have been decimated and disrupted.
“Our security services, the Nigerian Armed Forces and technical intelligence experts have done so much, from the NSA and our vigilante groups, they worked for two weeks and the operation was backed by serious, intensive intelligence gathering aerial tracking and interception. We have never seen this kind of professionalism and federal might that was brought to Bauchi State.
“We have discovered that the bandits’ camps have been disrupted, their supply routes have been destroyed, their logistics chain have also been disrupted and destroyed so that they don’t have food, fuel and movement corridors. Thousands of bandits and terrorists have been neutralized, hundreds and thousands of motorcycles have been destroyed, multiple camps and settlements were bombarded and dismantled and survivors were forced to flee and disperse and strategic observations are being forwarded.”
The Governor said that the security service chiefs are willing to sustain the operation through security presence to prevent the terrorists from regrouping, maintain territorial control and continued air aerial surveillance rapid response by both the security agencies and the vigilante.
He added that the special forces will continue to conduct continuous aerial monitoring, execute targeted strikes and desimate remaining elements so that the emerging threats will be decimated.
The Governor who said that as a measure to tackle the insecurity in the area, residents of the area will be profiled with their data and biometrics taken by the government, while people coming to settle in the area must provide guarantors and would undergo screening and documentation, warned that anyone found providing logistics support or sharing intelligence with the bandits will be severely dealt with.
“But we have come to a level where we must show responsibility and respite. Community intelligence and responsibility must be deployed so that we will remain vigilant, report any suspicious movement or activities and there should be security sharing such that any individual found providing logistics support and sharing intelligence with bandits will be dealt with.
“We must profile our population and communities around the area in such a manner that we will have their data and biometrics, for all the residents around the area and the new settlers that are coming so that we don’t provide open space that is not monitored or evaluated. New entrants must be verified with verifiable guarantors, undergo screening and documentation so that we monitor their high risk locations that are within the area.
“We must have strict oversight in our motor parks, our cattle markets, out filing stations and all the other things that have to do with survival because there has been a very serious level of dislocation. There is so much desperation. So, this profiling is very important and it cannot be done by government or security agencies alone, that is why we have invited the Royal Highnesses that are contiguous to the area and the local government chairmen that have responsibility in the area like Bauchi, Alkaleri, Kirfi and Tafawa Balewa, and we have given them strict directives on how to sustain this and provide for emergency.
“We are calling on all those that are there, especially the residents to know that we are profiling and doing the documentation and biometrics to be done is going to include NIMC and we will work with federal agencies so that this will happen again, whereby, we create ungoverned space away from the center of government in a manner that they will be able to take over our forests and do the kind of mayhem they were unleashing,” he stated.
The Governor however, said that the government has opened a window for the terrorists so that if they surrender themselves and their weapons, they can be relocated and reunited with their families since most of them are not from Bauchi, clarifying that it is not amnesty being given to them.
“We must be able to provide some leeway because the various operations of the major commodor have been suspended based on our demand so that casualties will not continue to be taken. There are a lot of casualties but that is a window or raposhmo so that this people should come and surrender their weapons and themselves and we will be able to relocate them and reunite them with their families in the state where they came from.
“We discovered that most of them are not even indigenous to Bauchi; we will be able to do that in a manner that is way to show empathy but we will continue to closely monitor, properly regulate the activities of our markets and all chains of supplies, including medical supplies.
“We have to strengthen our local security structures, our vigilante, recruit and deploy forest rangers, among others. What we are doing now is to call on all that are concerned especially those bandits that are already in the forests, that are running for shelter, to come forward and surrender during this period of respite that is being provided by the government, so that nothing will happen to them. It is not an amnesty but a window where we have looked into the situation, that they need to come back so that we will be able to arrest the situation permanently,” the Governor said.
Mohammed said he was happy that peace, stability and normalcy have returned to the area, assured that the internally displaced persons taking shelter in Gombe State would be returned immediately.
He said: “All those who have run away and are in Kashere and Futuk, within the next two to three days, they will be relocated and be resettled to areas where they are because the threats are no longer there. But certainly, it is not yet Uhuru, our traditional institutions, local governments and even the state government will continue to work with the security agencies to ensure that what Mr. President has achieved so far is sustained in a manner that it doesn’t rear its ugly head again.”
Armstrong Bakam
