BY ANKELI EMMANUEL, Sokoto –
The Chairman of Sokoto Community Guard Corps, Honourable Yushau Ahmed Kebbe, has said it has gotten to that point where they no longer wait for bandits to attack before they respond.
Kebbe, who spoke to journalists after the state governor signed the bill establishing Sokoto Community Guard Corps into law, added that it has gotten to that point where they have to chase bandits to their hideouts.
He said: “We are now chasing bandits into their hideouts. For instance today, we acted swiftly on an intelligence report while I was on my way to the screening exercise camp, that bandits have crossed from Bakura Forest in Zamfara State moving towards Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State to gather along that axis.
“And we mobilized our men with the security agencies to confront them head on tonight. So this is a new development in the area of fighting insecurity, because we have to accept the fact that, the number of security operatives that we have currently is not enough to confront each and every challenge that may arise daily”.
Kebbe, the grassroots politician, who sought to govern the state under the platform of ANPP in 2012 later defected to the PDP and left for the APC in 2022 citing several flaws in the party as reasons for his defection.
Continuing, Yusha’u Kebbe hinted that the state will be engaging 2,000 people of proven integrity from the various communities in the Guard Corps.
According to him, “the addition of these 2,000 well equipped and trained hands from the local communities will really make a difference, as the security operatives will now be able to confront the challenges head on with more hands, and more intelligent resources”.
When asked if weaponizing the Community Guard Corps will pose future security threat to the society, Kebbe expressed confidence in the selection process, and other measures put in place to ensure non abuse by those to be engaged.
He said: ‘Yes, there is always that fear. Because you know, with every human organization, you will always have some bad eggs in it no matter how hard you try in your selection process. But having that in mind, we have taken some measures to make sure that as far as we can, do not engage such people.
“‘Another measure we have taken is to make sure that the Sokoto Community Guard Corps do not go on operations on their own except with the relevant security agencies and when not on any operation, their weapons will be kept at the various divisional police offices in their respective local government areas””.
Continuing, he said, “the police will be responsible for keeping these weapons. And once they are going out on operations, that’s when they will be issued with these weapons and they will be under the command and control of the military. So with this measure which we, have taken, I think we will be able to minimize to the barest level such incidences from occurring”.
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