By Chuks Ekpeneru
The Governors of Katsina State and Zamfara State, Aminu Masari and Bello Matawalle, have been blamed for the upsurge of Kidnapping in the North-West.
A former Director of the Department of State Services, Mike Ejiofor speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme said the two governor’s laid the foundation for kidnapping in error by negotiating with bandits.
“The state governments –both Zamfara and Katsina States –mistakenly laid the foundation for what is going on now; they started negotiation with the bandits who were not even ready to give up on their activities and this is what we are witnessing now.
“Even this Kankara incident, the governor came out to say they are negotiating, that is unacceptable. And you give these people the boldness and courage to continue to perpetrate this act,” Ejiofor said on Friday morning.
The former director condenmed negotiation with bandits and called for strengthening of the security apparatus to crush the criminals.
“I am not a pessimist but these things will continue to happen unless we strengthen the security of these states and take decisive actions. The Federal Government should take decisive actions against these bandits operating in the North-West. These well-organised bandits are looking for money. Anytime they do such kidnap, they are paid, and they use such money to buy more arms.
“This definitely is not the work of Boko Haram but the work of bandits in the two states.
“It’s sad that they were moved from Kankara to Zamfara undetected by any security operative,” Ejiofor stated.
