The Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, insisted on Tuesday that bandits have been degraded in the north-west.
His comment is coming few days after bandits kidnapped students of Ahmadu Bello University along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway on Sunday as well as growing violence and killings in the north-west.
Speaking with state house correspondents after a national security council meeting at Aso Rock, Dingyadi stated that bandits were relying on hit-and-run tactics.
He said: “These bandits have already been degraded, so there is no way they resuscitate themselves and take over.
“I think they have already been degraded, what they are doing is just hit-and-run kind of tactics. So, we don’t see any sign of them coming to take over or overpower, I think they have been well degraded and they are just trying to show their presence in a very cowardice manner.
The minister, while reacting to the concerns that police had abandoned the Abuja-Kaduna road and the plans to ensure peace returned to the route, said it was an overstatement to insinuate that the highway had been deserted by security agents.
According to him, the reported cases of attacks along the route should not be interpreted to mean that bandits had taken over despite the 24-hour patrol being jointly done by the police and the military.
“You see, once a small thing happens in a particular place like this Kaduna, we begin to talk about lack of security in that area. That place is being monitored 24 hours. There are police and the army who are on a kind of joint patrol on 24 hours basis.
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“We also have our separate police formation that is also on that road. I think it is an overstatement to say that that place is not being secured. People are still following it.
“We agree that there have been cases of attacks but these are normal things these people do whenever they have an opportunity and we are equal to the task.
“Whenever this kind of thing happens, we pursue them like what happened just two days ago; those people were rescued. So, police and security personnel will continue to monitor this road and all other places to ensure that peace is to a very large extent maintained in the area,” he stated.
Asked when to expect improved security in the country, Dingyadi said: “Let me say that in whatever one does, you must have a timeline, you must have your targets and you must work towards achieving those targets. We have our timelines, we have our targets and we are working towards achieving those targets.”
