Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, has alleged that security agencies don’t take action on critical security information that could help them in dealing with bandits, terrorists and other criminals in the state.
He disclosed this in an exclusive interview with The Vanguard stating that with the aid of drones and other technological platforms, his government is able to track the movement of the terrorists, as the information is relayed to the Police, Military, Department of State Services, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, but they often ignore such information.
According to him, despite deploying surveillance systems capable of tracking bandits’ movements, security agencies have allegedly failed to treat the intelligence as urgent, thereby allowing attacks to persist.
Governor Lawal, who spoke further during the interview, added that the terrorists live among the people, but because the security forces have refused to go after them, they appear bigger than the state.
“If you follow all my interviews about insecurity, I strongly believe that we are not ready for this. I still believe we are not ready because it doesn’t take anything. With technology, every movement of any bandit, I have it in my system because we have satellites and drones.
Every movement is communicated to all the relevant security operators: police, military, DSS and civil Defence real-time. But it is not their priority and it’s frustrating. When you have the tool, you can neutralise these guys easily. They live within us. How is it difficult? You are telling me a bandit, a terrorist is superior to the state? How is that possible? It’s not”, he said.
Speaking further, Governor Lawal disclosed that he has briefed President Bola Tinubu about the situation, insisting that the true state of insecurity in Zamfara and parts of Kaduna was not being accurately conveyed at the federal level.
“I met the president and I made it very clear to him that this is what you need to do, that they are not telling you the truth,” he said.
The Governor said, despite the lingering challenges, his administration would continue to take measures to turn the situation around.
He maintained that insecurity remains the most pressing issue and warned that failure by security agencies to prioritise actionable intelligence could continue to undermine efforts to restore peace in Zamfara and neighbouring states such as Kaduna.
