ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi
The acting 39th General Officer Commanding, 3 Division, Jos, Brigadier General Musa Danmadami, has stated that Nigeria’s security challenges cannot be tackled except with political will.
Danmadami said this when he led the Brigade Commander, 33 Artillery Brigade, Bauchi, Brigadier General Matthew Durowaiye, and other top military Officers to a courtesy visit to Governor Bala Mohammed at the Government House on Tuesday.
He said that security is supposed to be the collective efforts of all, pointing out that the military cannot do it alone but to a large extent, Bauchi State governor has been providing enormous support, both moral and logistics, to the troops in the state.
The acting GOC said: “I want to thank you for your support and we believe that as time goes on, you’ll continue to support us.
“We all know that for any security challenge in Nigeria today, it cannot be brought to a logical conclusion except there is a political solution to it. The political solution can only work if there’s a political will for it to be done.
“I want to thank the Governor because we have seen in him that political will to tackle those challenges within the state and that is why, to a large extent, we have seen relative peace in Bauchi State.
“I want to thank you, Sir, for carrying everybody along in your governance in the state irrespective of which of the divide you are, including all the security elements in the state.
“We want to urge you that the legacy you are leaving behind, you should, please stick to it because apparently, it is working and it is working very well.”
In his response, the Bauchi State governor commended the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, for doing so much in tackling the security challenges bedeviling the country.
He said: “So far, the army under the Chief of Army Staff, our brother, General Tukur Buratai, has done so much to show that since the inception of this administration, the army and the military have done so much to make sure they make us feel safe and secure, to sleep with our eyes closed.
“The army has done so much with other security agencies especially in Bauchi, to secure our peace and I must commend the Brigade Commander (33 Artillery) and some of his colleagues, for leading the vanguard of making us feel safe inspite of the insecurity all over surrounding us.
“Bauchi is surrounded by about seven states and we are the gateway to the northeast itself and the northcentral and the northwest. And so all the security challenges coming from all these places, are really coming here and at the end of the day, we have become the safest place to be in the northeast in terms of where there is peace, people move about with relative peace and ease and that has not been made possible without the deliberate policies and collaboration and interaction.”
The governor said that the surveillance his administration has been carrying out has been very helpful because of the resurgence of pockets of insurgency here which are not unexpected considering what is happening in the northwest whereby people are running away including the criminals and the charlatans.
He added that the activities of oil and gas in the southeastern part of the state is also bringing some insurgency because of expectations and perception.
“We have so many forests reserves, Lame Forest Reserve is as big as some states in Nigeria, the Yankari Game Reserve is one of the biggest well established Game Reserve in the country. Yes, we need the Fauuna and Flora but certainly, these are some of the areas the insurgents hide.
“We must commend the Division for usually, sometimes, surprisingly coming up with initiatives to go after them to their own climes and destroying insurgency and criminality in those bushes.
“I remember what you did in Lame/Bura and what you are doing in Yankari,” he stated.
Mohammed who lamented that the state has some challenges along the Bauchi-Jos road, since the dismantling of the Police road blocks, pleaded with the GOC to urgently do something about the situation pointing out that lives and properties are being lost.
He said: “The responsibility of the army is to secure the environment, the community, the nation. We are being threatened along Panshanu, people are being attacked all the time and because of the gorgeous nature of the place, the military are the only formation that can really secure the place.
“If we can do something together as you said, with your permission, since it was a directive that roadblocks should go away, but we can do some kind of permanent surveillance post, not roadblocks, just after the Panshanu, so that we can secure the place and clear all those criminals that are disturbing and bombarding that place.
“Whatever we can do together to make the place, we will do it to provide security there.”
He noted that (33 Artillery) Brigade is the most auspicious and visible formation in Bauchi, older than all the security formations, but because of the gross underdevelopment, the Brigade itself has become part of the town.
The governor observed with concern that some civilian formations and villages are growing around the Brigade and this has been causing friction between the army and the civilians in those areas.
He said that he has been discussing with the Brigade Commander (33 Artillery Brigade, Bauchi) saying that he intends to write to the Chief of Army Staff and President Muhammadu Buhari to appeal to them to relocate the Brigade out of the metropolis.
“But in my usual way, I usually do things with stakeholding, I will plead with you to seek for ways and means of moving the Brigade entirely from where it is because it is now part of the town.
“We will give you all the support and we will make cash flow available that will make you redeem your loses there. In fact, it will amount to Brigade renewal, you should not be interacting too much with the civilians as to cause all these friction. I can see the Brigade is trying to fence the formation, it will not solve the problem, it is already part of the town.
“If it pleases the Chief of Staff who is our brother and the President to move it along Maiduguri road or along Ningi road. We will be working with you as a government to make sure we do it together, so that you don’t incur so much loses,” he promised.
Mohammed who pledged to work with the army “because the army is working for us” noted that issues of abduction and criminality have been reduced to the minimal and “I must praise the Brigade Commander and all the security forces in the state.”
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