Banditry, Criminality in Nigeria, a result of leadership failure – 2019 Kwara governorship candidate

By Steve Oni, Ilorin

A Governorship Candidate in the 2019 general elections in Kwara State, Dr. Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia, has said that the report that bandits laid siege to the Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Jaji, Kaduna state, is an indication that people are no longer safe in today’s Nigeria.

In a statement, Ajia, who is the Chairman and CEO of Safe Hands Technologies Limited and currently a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, said he was ashamed and scandalised by the present state of things in Nigeria.

He said: “Against the backdrop of local home grown terrorists, otherwise called bandits, laying siege to the Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Jaji, Kaduna state, it is pertinent to declare that all of us are no longer safe in today’s Nigeria. As a member of the ruling APC, I am ashamed and scandalised by the present state of things.

“If local terrorists do not have any fear of the superior fire power of the Nigerian military, how can the Nigerian state guarantee the lives and properties of the average Nigerian?

“Those who have been elected to serve in the top echelon of our public life must seat up or be fired from their positions. Obviously, the proactive hands on leadership that is expected must start with the President.

“It is high time we put an end to all forms of criminality.”

Recall that residents of communities around the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) in Jaji, Kaduna State, had raised the alarm of constant attacks from bandits.

The mission of the bandits, it was gathered, was to abduct some staff of the College as well as people of the communities.

This was coming in less than two months after bandits stormed the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Mando, also in Kaduna state where they kidnapped no fewer than 39 students.

AFCSC is a training facility for the Nigerian Armed Forces, including the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Air Force and Nigerian Navy.

The Commandant of the College, Air Marshal Olayinka Alade, it was gathered, confirmed the incident when he visited the Army Headquarters to brief Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Attahiru Ibrahim, on the development and other issues.

Alade said the institution has decided to launch impromptu search and clearance operations in some communities where the bandits are operating around the College having informed General Officer Commanding 1 Division.

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