Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike on Wednesday, January 17, 2023, visited area councils in the territory, saying that security agencies would make it difficult for bandits going forward.
During his visit to the Bwari Area council offices in Bwari town, Wike convened a town hall meeting with locals, traditional leaders, security, defence, and intelligence professionals, as well as other relevant parties.
The minister is expected to also visit other councils in the coming days.
At the gathering, Wike said that enough was enough and that informants for the bandits would not be allowed to continue sleeping among respectable citizens.
He said, “Security is one of the key priorities of Mr. President’s administration. Yesterday (Tuesday), Mr. President summoned a high-level security meeting, which included all the service chiefs, the Minister of Defence, and my humble self, because of recent attacks, particularly in Bwari. And so, currently, it is one of the key priorities that Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda will want to face squarely.
“It is no longer going to be business as usual. My reason for coming here today is to show you that we are serious. To all those bandits, enough is enough. We will do everything in our power to make sure that this does not happen again.
“Everything has to be done to protect lives and property. Without protection of lives and property, we have no business in government. My reason for coming here today is to assure you that we are very serious. All those criminals and bandits—enough is enough. We will do everything in our power to make sure that we do not allow this to happen again. That is why, just this morning, Mr. President gave me approval to provide everything required to the security agencies. And just like what Etsu-Bwari and Sarkin-Bwari said, it is not by merely talking; we are serious.
“Security agencies will not have any reason to say that they are not equipped; we will provide everything required. I know how big Bwari is, and I know that you have boundaries with three states: -Niger State, Kaduna State, and Nasarawa State. I know because these bandits were chased away from the Northeast, so they are making their way here; we will make it hot for them.”.
Wike also asked for public support, particularly in terms of giving information to security organizations.
“Without information, there is nothing we can do and that is where you come in. As traditional and community leaders, you have a great role to play. You need to assist security agencies with information.
“In the next few days, you will see action from the security agencies. There could be informants even here in this meeting hall. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care. I am the Minister of FCT. You won’t sleep again. Informants, you won’t sleep again.
“This message is not just for Bwari but for all the area councils. From time to time, we will come here and interface with you. We won’t sit down in the city.”
The minister cautioned people against using crowdsourcing to obtain money for ransom since it enables terrorists to carry out other atrocities.
He said, “We have to stop this idea of going to the radio to say we are going to raise money. When you do that, these bandits are happy that people are concerned and raising money. I know you are concerned that your loved ones are with kidnappers, but we must do everything to discourage them.”