HEADLINE | Posted: Thursday, March 18, 2021

Inter-agency rivalry, envy fuelling insecurity- NSCDC boss


...Says bandits in Nigeria have international sponsors

...Bandits attack Emir of Birnin-Gwari's convoy

...Kill man, abduct 2 children in Katsina

...Reps set up c'ttee on way out of insecurity

By Levinus Nwabughiogu, Omeiza Ajayi, Bashir Bello & Hassan Ibrahim

Commandant-General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC, Dr Ahmed Audi, said, yesterday, that inter-agency rivalry and envy were fuelling insecurity in the country.

He also asked state commandants to key into his vision of repositioning the corps for greater service delivery or take the exit route.

The NSCDC commandant spoke as the convoy of the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Jibril Mai Gwari II, was on Tuesday evening attacked by bandits along the Kaduna-Birnin-Gwari highway, riddling one of the vehicles with bullets.

This is even as gunmen suspected to be bandits early yesterday, invaded Jargaba village in Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State, killing a man, identified as Ibrahim Kwatahi, and abducting two of his children.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives, yesterday, set up a high-powered committee to brainstorm on the security situation in the country and articulate solutions that would be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari, according to the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Inter-agency rivalry, envy fuelling insecurity in Nigeria

Audi, who spoke, yesterday, in Abuja at the opening of a two-day training workshop on adopting best practices in Law Enforcement, Human Rights, Inter-Agency Collaboration, Leadership and Conflict Management for State Commandants of the Corps, organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung KAS, advocated more synergy among security agencies.

Noting that there was need to eschew rivalry and envy among security agencies in the fight against insecurity, the NSCDC C-G said: "The increasing rate of armed conflict occasioned by banditry, kidnapping, farmers/herders clashes, vandalism, community clashes, ethno-religious crisis, among others, makes it imperative to explore opportunities provided by the workshops of this nature towards addressing and finding lasting solutions.

"To this end, there is need for multi-agency approach through effective collaboration in the exchange of vital security information and intelligence. In addition, security agencies need to work as a team and harness one another's core competence to build a formidable team to face these challenges head on.

"It is clear from the foregoing that security agencies need to avoid unnecessary rivalry and envy to forge a common front to secure our nation."

Bandits in Nigeria have international sponsors

He also said bandits operating in Nigeria had foreign sponsors, noting that the country was witnessing an asymmetric war that required inter-agency collaboration among security agencies.

He said: "Following how events are unfolding in the country, we are experiencing a serious conflict that I think in the history of Nigeria, this is about the first conflict that will give us a serious problem and the conflict is called asymmetric war.

"We have had in the past some semblance of this type of war but the proper manifestation of it is the one we are seeing now and asymmetric war is a war that requires all hands to be on deck if we really want to deal with it and nip it in the bud.

"These guys are serious; these guys have international sponsors, so we need to come together."

Audi, therefore, called on security agencies to avoid rivalry and what he described as service supremacy which, according to him, is a major challenge to collaboration needed to win the war against banditry.

He, however, assured that the NSCDC was working hard to rid the country of increased violence.

Country Representative of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Dr. Vladimir Kreck, said the German organisation had been partnering with the NSCDC since 2013 to organize seminars, workshops and training programmes aimed at fostering inter-agency collaboration and promoting civil-military relations.

Bandits attack Emir of Birnin-Gwari's convoy, riddle car with bullets

Similarly, as the growing insecurity in the country continues, the convoy of the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Jibril Mai Gwari II, was, Tuesday evening, attacked by bandits, who riddled his car with bullets.

The emir was, however, not in the convoy during the attack but his driver, Umar Jibril, narrowly escaped being killed.

The driver recounted his ordeal: "The bandits appeared in front of our vehicles with guns and threw tree branches on the road to stop us.

"We did not stop, they targeted me, since I was driving but as Allah will have it, the bullet missed my head narrowly. I had minor injuries from the shattered glasses of the vehicle, no one was injured.''

The emir had spoken on how his subjects had paid millions of naira to bandits as a ransom for kidnapped victims in Birnin Gwari at the presentation of the 2020 security reports to Governor Nasir el-Rufai by the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, last week.

….Kill man, abduct his 2 children in Katsina

In another attack, gunmen suspected to be bandits, invaded Jargaba village in Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State early yesterday, killing a man and kidnapping two of his children.

It was gathered that the incident happened around 1:00 am when the bandits entered the town on foot to carry out their operation.

A source in the area, who confirmed the incident, said the bandits abducted the deceased's children (a male and female) and also carted away a huge sum of money from the house.

At press time yesterday, Katsina State police command was yet to make any official statement on the incident.

Reps set up special c'ttee to brainstorm on way out of insecurity

Meanwhile, to stem the tide of insecurity in the country, the House of Representatives yesterday set up a high powered special committee to brainstorm and proffer solutions.

Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, who announced the development at plenary, said members of the committee included all the principal officers and 30 other members of the House, selected across the six geo-political zones of the country.

He said the committee was mandated to begin work immediately and generate a report between two and three weeks.

According to him, the expected outcome will be transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for implementation.

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