Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi has urged the governors, as chief security officers, to take charge of their states, stressing that President Muhammadu Buhari cannot be in every state to ensure security of lives and property.
Bello, an All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, who said that he did not expect the President to secure his state as a governor, added that he had put so much in place to bring crime to almost zero in Kogi.
The Kogi governor, stated this on Friday in Abuja at his Second Annual GYB Seminar for Nigeria’s Political and Crime Editors and Correspondents, said that the bulk of securing the states was on them as chief executives.
The presidential hopeful said he would not tolerate buck- passing concerning insecurity in Nigeria, when he becomes the President of the nation in 2023.
He promised to ensure that all governors in Nigeria take responsibility for security in their states, stressing that he would hold them responsible for breaches when elected as president of Nigeria in 2023.
Bello, however, assured that states would be empowered to rise to the security challenges.
“As a president, I will supervise and ensure that all security agencies carry out their duties as expected. I will punish those not doing well.
” The whole world will bow for Nigeria after 365 days as president as security issue will be fixed. However, I am not a governor that will expect the President to secure my state,” he said.
Bello insisted that he would not play politics with the security challenges in the country because it was as a result of the failure of various administrations in the past.
He said, “I refused to politicise insecurity. Buhari is a man who loves truth and reality. I will let you know that the President loves this country.
“This insecurity is not a thing of the President though we shouldn’t pass buck because that is why we came on board. It is a successive failure of various administrations.
“Let me remind us once again that certain military and police hardware were nonexistent or was last purchased in the administration of former President Shehu Shagari.
Bello pointed out that after the bomb blast incident in Ikeja cantonment in Lagos State in 2001, Nigerians never asked whether the arms and ammunition that detonated and killed some people were ever replaced since then.
“After the various decays, the foundation was shaky and the President spent a lot of money to buy equipment. The President will not sit in the Villa and hold AK-47 to come and secure my schools and roads.
“Some of these crimes that we see today is more than what we see on the surface. I will never come out here and point out the flaws. Whatever I observe, in terms of loopholes and lapses, it is between myself and the President to let him know.
“I will never be that governor who will come out and tell that the President did not secure my schools and roads. That is why as the Chief Security Officer of Kogi, I I brought the rate of crime from the zenith down to the floor and the President is assisting me to succeed in that area,” he said.
The governor said that he was sincere about fighting crimes and criminality, stressing that If all states’ governors would do what they were supposed to do, the President’s job would have been made easy.
“But if I become the President, I will ensure that every chief executive of the various federating units sit up and do their jobs. I will not tolerate any lackadaisical attitude or passing of buck to the center. I will ensure that various federating units are strengthened.
“Majority of some of these crimes are politically motivated, especially the recent ones we are witnessing. However, the issue of security can never be brought out to the public so you will not expose your country to danger,” he said.
(NAN)