‘Insecurity biggest threat in the North’

The Emir of Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State, Malam Zubair Jibril Mai Gwari II has said that the biggest threat to the North is insecurity.

According to him insecurity especially in the form of Boko Haram, armed banditry and ethnic clashes in the northeast, northcentral and northwest constitutes the biggest threat to Nigeria and its neighbors.

He said that Nigeria needs to develop a strong mechanism of tolerance because the unfortunate religious crises and ethnic clashes in some parts of the North could be avoided through tolerance.

Speaking on Tuesday in Abuja, at the Blueprint Impact Series/Awards themed Tolerance, Unity and Security: Building a Legacy for National Development.

Mallam Jibril added that Nigeria can only be said to be developed when the teeming youths can engage in various businesses, transforming their talent and skills to produced goods for survival.

His words, “Nigeria must evolve a strong mechanism of tolerance because our national development is indeed based on that. The unfortunate religious crises and ethnic clashes in some parts of Taraba, Benue and Plateau States could have well been intercepted and avoided if we have evolved tolerance mechanism among us.

“Nigeria can be said to be developed only when our teeming youth can engage in various businesses, transforming their talents and skills to produce goods that we need for survival. Nigeria can boost of development only when it uses the God-given opportunity not only to be agrarian but principally a nation that produces and processes agricultural goods for both internal and external use. When that is achieved, we can then feel secure from Food Insecurity.

“Insecurity especially in the form of Boko Haram insurgency in Northeast, Ethnic clashes in North Central, armed banditry in North West, constitutes the biggest threat being faced by this country and its neighbors. For instance, in Kaduna state, several local government areas are severely affected by bandits.  Our story in Birnin Gwari of Kaduna state is that of agony and sympathy. The armed bandits have made hell out of the people’s lives in my area. They have completely ravaged the areas by armed robbery, armed banditry, cattle rustling and abductions.

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“Our agricultural and socio-economic sectors have been crippled. Still in Kaduna state, areas like that of Sabon Birni in Igabi, Chikun and some places in Southern Kaduna are still battling with armed robbers and armed bandits. The story is same with Zamfara state where people are being killed on daily basis by the same armed bandits and agriculture is seriously crippled.

“In Katsina and Niger states, the people are still experiencing threats and killings by the criminals who sometimes open fire sporadically on a complete village. Just last week Tuesday, in Rabah local government area of Sokoto state, more than 40 people including the village head of Tabanni were massacred by the armed bandits after rustling their cattle and scorching the entire village. These and several other crimes committed on innocent people in North West are indicators that insecurity has eaten deep into the fabrics of Nigerians.”

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