A Former Chief of Army Staff and former Minister of Interior Lt. General AbdurRahman Dambazzau (Rtd), has urged residents of communities troubled by armed banditry and kidnapping in the country to work with security agents deployed in their communities towards curbing the menace.
General Dambazzau was speaking at the sidelines of the wedding fatiha of the daughter of immediate past Director-General of the Department of State Services, Alhaji Lawal Musa Daura held at Low Cost Mosque, Daura.
He observed that members of such communities, being more conversant with the terrain and the people in their neighbourhoods, are in a good position to feed security agencies with information that could lead to the arrest of bad eggs from among them.
The former Interior Minister noted that it is only with full cooperation from the communities through effective collaboration that security agencies can be able to curb the current wave of armed banditry ad kidnapping in the affected communities.
General Dambazzau urged parents and community leaders as well as religious institutions to be alive to their responsibility of training their children into responsible members of the society, and for communities to institute an effective policing mechanism to nip insecurity in the bud.
“The security situation is not as bad as people from afar assume it them to be, you can see the crowd that came from all parts of the country to attend this wedding ceremony in Katsina State.
“However, this does not dismiss the fact that there are security challenges in this part of the country, but security is the business of everybody, we must all be able to contribute, we should not leave it to security agencies alone.
“We should make sure that anything we see that we do not trust, we should report it immediately, we should make sure that we do not assist criminals in any manner to continue with their crimes, either by providing them with information or by helping them procure logistics while in the forests.
“But as for the government, it is trying everything possible to fulfil Chapter Two of the Constitution which is to guarantee the security and welfare of the people, but the task of providing security must be all-encompassing, everybody must be involved in it”, Dambazzau said.
Meanwhile, he also wished the bride and groom, Abdullahi Lawal and Maryam Lawal Musa, a blissful married life while urging Nigerians to regard marriage as a sacred institution through which God sustains the human race.
The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the Director General, FRCN, Dr. Mansur Liman who were represented by the General Manager, Radio Nigeria’s Companion FM Katsina, Malam Mukhtar Dutsinma extended their good will message to the new couple and urged them to always be there for one another.
Malam Mukhtar Dutsinma thanked the dignitaries that graced the wedding ceremony who came from all parts of the country, particularly federal lawmakers, security chiefs, business executives and traditional leaders.
Isma’il Adamu
