Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, has said poverty, joblessness, poor schools and health facilities in rural areas are the main drivers of insecurity in northern Nigeria.
Governor Sani made this point at the public launch of “Where I Stand, a book by the late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi, translated into Arabic by Sheikh Ibrahim Jalo Jalingo.
The event was hosted by Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS), with the governor representing President Bola Tinubu as Special Guest of Honour.
He warned the opposition against politicising insecurity by suggesting that bandits could simply be carpet-bombed out of existence.
“Insecurity cannot be solved by guns alone,” he said. “Anyone making such claims is only playing politics.”
“In 1970, after the civil war, we had about 300,000 soldiers. Today, we have fewer than 250,000, yet our population has grown by over 100 million. How then can firearms alone solve this problem?”
He also beamed the searchlight on the absence of security presence in large parts of the Northwest.
“If you travel through Zamfara, Birnin Gwari or the forests of Katsina, you can go 50 kilometres without seeing a single policeman, let alone a soldier,” he said.
“We must stop deceiving our people by blaming only the President or the National Security Adviser,” he stressed.
“We were elected by the people, and it is our duty to protect them. God will hold us accountable for failing in this responsibility.”
