Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has vowed that all those who looted warehouses in Kaduna about a week ago will be arrested to face the wrath of the law.
El-Rufai said the palliatives looted belonged to the needy and vulnerable in the society which had earlier been distributed to various local government areas in the State, “for safe keep awaiting another round of distribution to the needy.
“But these looters are criminals, they are thieves who looted things that belonged to the need and vulnerable in the society”. He said.
The governor spoke on Friday at the sensitization of youth leaders from the 23 local government areas of the State about insecurity in the State.
The event which took place at the auditorium of the Kaduna State University ( KASU) was attended by minister of environment, the deputy governor and some members of the State Executive Council.
El-Rufai who was unavoidable away from the country during the endSaRS protest expressed sadness over attack and killings of some police men across the country, saying, “when I watched a video of police being killed I felt sad”.
He thumbed up for his Commissioner for Internal security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan for, “not sleeping to make sure that we enjoy peace in the State, and most of the times he risked his life for the State. When I appointed him as the Commissioner, some people said he is a Journalist, he does not know anything about security. I am happy that today he has proved such persons wrong”.
El-Rufai however, vehemently condemned protest against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), saying, “it is a unit of the police force which may have bad eggs like any other organizations, therefore it is wrong to attack all the police because of few bad eggs in the police.
“The best way out of this situation is to identify the bad eggs and punish them accordingly, but not to call for the entire dissolution of SARS”.
Speaking further on the looted palliatives, El-Rufai said, “We will pick the criminals one by one, we know where they are, we will send them to prison, they are criminals. They stole chairs, mattresses, tables, electronics and so on and do forth”.
He charged the youths leaders to talk to their members to resist the temptation of joining looters, “because we have a security report that these criminals are planning another round of looting, but we will arrest them and send them to prison”.
Earlier, the Minister of Environment, Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar advised the youths to be creative to be self independent and even forge ahead to be employers of labour.
Abubakar however reminded them that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is working hard to ensure massive employment for the youths across the country.
Some members of the State Executive Council spoke about programmes being lined up for the youths, and called on them to be supportive of government activities for their good.