Nasarawa State Governor, Abdulahi Sule, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to help address the security challenges troubling the State.
Speaking to State House Correspondents after he met with the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday, he said some elements of the boko haram terrorists’ group were involved in causing disorder in the State.
Sule added that even though the terrorists had been dislodged from Toto Local Government Area of the State, where they had camped, they have since regrouped at the Nasarawa/Benue border from where they are now launching attacks on residents.
He said: “I have come to see the leader of our party, the leader of the nation, and our father, Mr President, to brief him about some of the activities happening in my State, especially first in the area of security that we continue to have challenges with a team of Boko Haram who had settled at the border with the FCT. And we thank the security forces that they have been able to dislodge them.
“But now, they have gone back and gathered at our border with Benue. And they are causing a lot of havoc. Therefore, this meeting was an opportunity, as the President wanted to know and I briefed him. I strongly believe that just like the decision was taken last time to take care of this issue, another decision will be taken.”
According to the Governor, some of the Boko Haram elements active in Nasarawa State belong to the Darussalam group that had been dislodged from Niger State, saying that upon a joint security operation, a lot of them were killed while 900 were arrested.
The Governor maintained that those arrested confirmed their membership of the boko haram insurgency group.
Sule said Nasarawa has continued to have security challenges, noting that having briefed the President, he is confident that action would be taken to curtail the menace.
Abuja Road
He said he was in the State House to discuss the insecurity issue in Nasarawa along with other issues including the possible federal government take-over of Gitata road, which serves as an alternative route from the state to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
“Secondly, I am here to show appreciation to the President. I believe most of you who are here may be living in Nasarawa, even though you are working here in Abuja. We used to have one way in-one way out. It is the same way you go through Mararaba, Karu, Nyanya, all the way to Keffi.
“But with the support of the Ecological Funds and the approval of Mr President, we now have another route that comes from Uke, Karshi, coming back to Abuja. A lot of people are passing through that area. But what will solve the problem once and for all is if we have additional routes from Gitata, Panda, Guruku, and Mpape.
“That one will solve two of our problems. One, it will go ahead to reduce the traffic jam along these two routes that we have at the moment. And it will also open up the area for development. In fact, you can call that another Maitama because it is very close to Maitama.
“So, we came specifically to appeal to the President to take over that road. The state government is doing its best to see how we can maintain the road. The road ends up at Guruku and comes back straight to Mararaba again. If the federal government takes over, it will go all the way to Mpape. The government actually discussed it once at an exco meeting and took a decision. I came to see if we can expedite action towards the commencement of that work so that we can create another road.
Finally, I came to condole with Mr President over various deaths that we have had, especially of some of the prominent sons and daughters, including those from Nasarawa State like the Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Professor Habu Galadima, who passed on as a result of this pandemic. It is also to confer with Mr President about the steps we are taking in Nasarawa State and seek additional support that will help us to approach this pandemic. This time around, the second wave of the pandemic is really taking lives and we are worried about it. But we are doing the best we can do to see if we can contain it by taking several steps that we relaxed in the past,” He said.
Nnenna.O
