Chinwe Obioha, Abuja
Following his appointment as chairman of the high-power security committee set by the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) under the leadership of Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State to address insecurity in the North, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello assured on Monday that the end of terrorists’ activities in the North was in sight.
He noted that bandits and terrorists will no longer find it easy to operate in the region in the wake of the security committee put in place under his leadership.
Speaking through his commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, the governor said the time to defeat terror has come and that there will be no hiding place for them henceforth.
Fanwo, who represented the governor when a group, Alliance for Peace, paid him a visit in his office said: ‘As you are aware, the North has taken a decisive position. The NGF under the leadership of Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has set up a high-power Committee to frontally address the security challenges in the North.
‘Unsurprisingly, the Committee was Chaired by the Governor of Kogi State who has received many national and international awards for the effective security architecture that put criminals at bay in his state.
‘Kogi used to be a stronghold of criminals before the present administration came on board. But today, Governor Yahaya Bello has brought it down to the lowest ebb. The Isanlu incident was a disappointment and the Governor has reset the security apparatus to ensure such doesn’t repeat itself again. Perpetrators will surely be brought to book.
‘Governor Yahaya Bello will work hard with all Committee members to ensure security and the whole of Kogi State is strongly rooting for his success in the new assignment. To us as a State, it is a thing of pride that we have a Governor that is making us proud nationally.’
Earlier, the spokesperson of the group, Tolulope Ige, thanked the governor for being ‘a good Ambassador of the youth across the country’ saying the governor has brought Kogi to the limelight of national politics.
He commended the response of the Governor to the Isanlu attack, assuring him that the group is proud of him.
He said: ‘The governor has rewritten the history of our state and we are happy at the way he prioritized security because there can’t be development without security.
‘We must get to the root of the Isanlu attack and the governor should be rest assured that we are behind him in his fight against crimes and criminality.’