I am afraid of military-police formation in Kaduna that cannot protect our school children and allowed bandits to control the forests. Kaduna State is the most terrorize state by bandits and other criminals despite the presence of military-police formation. I must express my concern over the level of insecurity in the country and Kaduna in particular. Kaduna State has the highest number of military and police formation yet they could not flush out bandits hiding in forests. I have watched helplessly in Kaduna State where the President’s efforts are not being replicated. Rather, we have a situation whereby deliberate acts of commission or omission and anarchy have taken over. The people of Kaduna State today are no longer feeling the impact of several military and police formation around them. I cannot explain the level of high insecurity in relation to several military-police formation in Kaduna State. There is several military-police formation yet there is no peace in Kaduna State. I am worried over what will happen if states without military-police formation have similar security challenge like the one in Kaduna. Nigerians need an explanation about insecurity in Kaduna with several military-police formation.

The following are List of Military and Police Formation in Kaduna State:

* 1Division Nigerian Army Barracks.

* Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria

* Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji

* Nigerian Defense Industry (NDI) Kaduna

* Nigerian Airforce Training School, Kaduna

* Nigerian Police College, Kaduna

* Nigerian Navy School of Armament, Kachia Kaduna

* Nigerian Army School of Legal Services, Bassawa Zaria

* Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA) Kaduna

* Nigerian Army School of Artillery, Kachia Kaduna

* Nigerian Army School of Military Police, Bassawa Zaria

I am worried that bandits and kidnappers operate freely without any challenge from the military and police formation located in Kaduna State. Mr. President is no doubt aware that no single day passes without massive killings, kidnappings, arson and wanton destruction of property in Kaduna State. The citizens and residents of Kaduna are becoming numb to serial publications of death and destruction every day.

I must lament that “farming activities are being negatively impacted on a scale that will herald famine throughout the state. Trading and other normal activities of life are equally affected. Even performing religious obligations is becoming difficult as places of worship are routinely targeted, burnt and destroyed with attendant loss of lives and the military-police formation is helpless in Kaduna.

The Kaduna–Abuja Road, Kaduna–Kachia Road, Kaduna–Zaria Road, Kaduna–BirninGwari Road are all under siege of bandits and kidnappers yet the military-police formation is helpless in Kaduna. Businesses are daily relocating from Kaduna. Residents are helpless and go about their lives with trepidation. The military and police formation are helpless in the war against kidnappers and bandits in Kaduna State. What is wrong with Kaduna the only state in Nigeria with the highest number of military and police formation?

There is the virtual absence of governance as the whole Government in the State is a one-man affair. “Regrettably, the Governor who carries himself like an Emperor and has stiffed normal discourse that can lead to constructive ideas and suggestions to tackle the myriad of security issues bedevilling the state. People have been threatened, arrested, prosecuted and targeted simply for raising their voices against the wanton destruction of lives and property.

There is today in Kaduna State such break down of public order and public safety to such extent that requires extraordinary measures to restore peace and security. There is, in addition, a clear and present danger of further and total breakdown of public safety in the state, which requires extraordinary measures to prevent such eventuality.

I want to condemn the activities of insurgents, kidnappers and bandits in the North that their activities are killing the peace and progress for which the north was noted for when the founders of the region were in power. Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State recently said the menace of banditry is beyond the capacity of the Nigeria Police Force, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC. El-Rufai made the remark while stressing that the Army, Nigerian Air Force, NAF, and Nigerian Navy should be deployed to effectively tackle banditry.

DEATHS from insecurity in Kaduna State in 2020 were three times higher than those recorded in five states in the North-East within the same year, The ICIR came up with a report. On Wednesday, March 10, the Kaduna State government released the state security report for the year 2020, which shows that 937 persons were killed by bandits and other criminals in the state within the year. According to data obtained from the Nigerian Security Tracker, the figure is much higher than what was recorded within the year in five North-East states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe. Nigeria Security Tracker, sponsored by the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, said there were 288 deaths due to insecurity in the five states within the period. Nigeria’s Kaduna State has been embroiled in conflict for decades. The violence has its roots in ethnic tensions between the state’s Muslim and non-Muslim populations.

Kaduna state is located in Northcentral Nigeria. It has a population of approximately 6.1 million people. The majority Hausa-Fulani tribe are predominantly Muslim and herders of cattle and the non-Muslim minority are mainly farmers. The conflict between these two groups most recently flared up in October 2018 when communal clashes left at least 55 people dead. The resurgence of violence provided a convenient talking point for President Muhammadu Buhari on his campaign trail. The president has made the fight against insecurity a big component of his campaign. But while he has talked tough about the violence he hasn’t acted accordingly to ensure that peace prevails in Kaduna.

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Inwalomhe Donald writes from Kaduna