Niger youth group slams State Commissioner for Homeland Security over comments on BBC, demands he resign for incompetence, failure

A youth association under the aegis of Gbenu Boknu Yakwo Association in Niger state has called for the immediate resignation of the commissioner for homeland security, Brigadier General Bello Abdullahi Mohammed (rtd) over his comments on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa service that the security situation in parts of the state has normalized and the farmers have gone back to their farms.

The Commissioner had in the interview specifically said the people of Allawa community and other adjourning villages have returned to their normal farming activities after the terrorists dislodged the military from its Camp in the areas and asked the people to leave in April this year.

The youths, while reacting to what they said were “false claims” by the commissioner, pointed out that contrary to his claim, the security situation in the area has worsened since he (the commissioner) was appointed one year ago.

The youth association in a statement in Minna on Thursday (today, August 22) and signed by its President, Comrade Bako Wakili Bosso, said, “We wish to express our deepest disappointment in the Commissioner of Homeland Security over his misleading comments on the security situation in our area.”

The youth maintained that the claim that the people of Allawa and adjourning Communities terrorised by bandits and kidnappers have returned to their normal farming activities is not only a fabricated lie but also a complete misrepresentation of the true situation in the area.

According to them, the commissioner’s false claim “is not only an act that can be described as a mockery of the dead but a clear demonstration of his total detachment from the plight of residents of the affected communities, who are currently dispersed and chased out of their ancestral land by bandits and terrorists.”

Comrade Bako maintained that the whole world through the instrumentality of the mass media, traditional media and the social media is aware that hundreds of residents of Allawa, Bassa and adjourning communities fled their homes in April this year after the soldiers stationed in the area were withdrawn after attack on their camp by the terrorists, and have not returned to their ancestral homes since then.

“It is five months now after the residents of Allawa Community under Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State fled their homes as a result of increasing and unabated attacks from bandits following the withdrawal of soldiers from the community,” Bako stressed.

“Instead of the Commissioner explaining to the world why the soldiers are yet to return, he is busy chasing shadow, resorting to cheap media blackmail of our helpless farmers in a desperate attempt to cover his incompetence.

“It is no longer news that a recent report by some credible and verifiable media outlets had indicated that the bandits and terrorists are presently having a field day as they have moved into the communities where they engage in farming.

“We vehemently condemn the Commissioner’s attempt at playing with the public sensitivities and obviously trivialising the plight of our people who are forced into being Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and largely traumatised by the loss of their loved ones to brutal and bloody banditry and insurgency.”

While calling on him to take the path of honor and resign his appointment, the youths pointed out that “the commissioner has exposed his desperate desire to mislead the public on the true security situation in Allawa Community among other adjourning villages suffering from the endless killings.

“We totally condemn this gross inefficiency and incompetence of the retired Brigadier General and therefore call on him to immediately resign,” the youths emphasized.

“Without mincing words, the security situation under the nose of the Commissioner of Homeland Security has deteriorated and worsen not only in the rural communities but even in the State capital as more and increasing cases of thuggery, armed robbery and youth restiveness among other violent crimes are increasingly being recorded.

“We, at GYB, therefore, categorically and unequivocally call on the Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago to immediately fire the incompetent Commissioner of Homeland Security to save his government from imminent anger and anguish of frustrated farming communities who have been left helpless and at the mercy of the venomous insurgents and bandits.”