Northern socio-cultural group, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has expressed worries over the increasing spate of kidnappings and killings by gunmen in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Kaduna states and other parts of the country.
The group lamented that nepotism in appointments in the leadership of the nation’s security architecture, bad economic policy that had led to job loss and connivance of criminals with some security operatives and impunity being allegedly encouraged by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration were responsible for the situation.
Speaking on behalf of the group, spokesman for the ACF, Muhammad Biu, described the kidnappings and killings by gunmen as disturbing.
He said, “The ACF and indeed Nigerians are disturbed by reports of the spate of kidnapping of innocent people on the highways and frequent attacks on villages by some bandits, which have led to the loss of hundreds of innocent lives particularly in the northern part of the country.
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“The recent frequent kidnappings and attacks on the people, especially along the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway and many villages in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and Kaduna states as well as many parts of the country are cruel, barbaric and inhuman.
“The ACF, therefore, condemns these unwarranted and unbridled kidnappings and killings of people by some unknown gunmen. This is a serious challenge to the government, our military and other security agencies as the spate of attacks is getting vicious and unacceptable.
“The military joint task force and other security operational command bases in Zamfara, Sokoto and other states set up to combat the bandits’ activities in the North need to redouble their efforts in order to put an end to this daily loss of innocent lives and destruction of property.
“The ACF also calls upon the security agencies to employ new strategies and intelligence gathering needed to effectively smoke out the kidnappers and bandits from their enclaves and hideouts. The police force should deploy more troops in the affected states and highways to not only repel attacks but go after the perpetrators and bring them to book.
“The ACF appeals to the Federal Government to seriously re-examine its security apparatus and take adequate measures that will increase the number of police personnel, train them and provide equipment and other logistic support to effectively tackle this menace.”