Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, said all the 36 governors in Nigeria were helpless “when it comes to tackling insecurity.”
Governor Ishaku stated this on Thursday while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s “Politics Today.”
He was of the opinion that “the country’s security structure does not leave enough room for governors to deal decisively with criminality in their states because the powers have been vested in the Federal Government.”
“It is not only me that is helpless. All the governors in Nigeria are helpless. And that is why we are saying give us state police,” Ishaku lamented.
His comments were in response to a recent attack in Taraba by some suspected Ambazonian soldiers from the Republic of Cameroon.
The soldiers are said to have stormed Manga village in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State on Wednesday, killing 11 people including a traditional ruler.
Takum Local Government Area is a border community between Taraba State and the Republic of Cameroon.
Speaker in reaction to the incident, Ishaku said he had complained severally to the Nigerian military, seeking help to secure the border.
The governor further stated that his pleas had gone unheard for quite a while, leaving the community prone to attacks such as was recently experienced.
According to Ishaku, there was little a governor could do in such a case, especially because “he does not control the armed forces, neither does he have a state police force specifically put together for the service of the Taraba people.”
“If I have state police, I would have ordered the police. All the governors are helpless, not only Darius Ishaku that is helpless; not only Taraba State that is helpless. Go and ask other governors and tell me any who has a solution to this. We have to depend on Federal might,” he explained.
In forging a way forward, Governor Ishaku called for the military to help man Taraba’s ‘long-stretch’ border with Cameroon.
“Taraba has one of the longest borders with Cameroon. There is an absolute need that this our boundary must be manned by security agencies. The military, precisely, must man it,” the governor argued.
“Because they (the separatists) are well armed, they are a separatist group, and when they kill, they run away. So it is not an easy thing, it has to be the military to man the border.”
After Wednesday’s attack, the Governor said the military and police have now moved into the attacked community.
He expressed hopes that fleeing villagers can now return after Nigerian security officials were deployed to the area. (Channels TV)
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