Minister makes case for peace agency in Katsina
The Wazirin Katsina, Prof. Sani Lugga, has disclosed that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration failed to contain insecurity in the country because he refused to use the strategy employed in 2015 by then President Goodluck Jonathan.
Lugga said the Jonathan administration used war contractors, known as mercenaries, to clip the wings of stubborn Boko haram leaders like Abubakar Shekau, which led to the success of the general election won by Buhari.
He spoke at a strategic management retreat organised by Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) in Ilorin, Kwara State, yesterday, themed ‘Repositioning IPCR for Sustainable Peace, Security and National Integration’.
At the event, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, called on the IPCR to partner the Katsina State government in the establishment of peace agencies.
Represented by Amb. Samson Itegboye, the minister encouraged states to set up state peace agents.
“Currently, Plateau, Kaduna and Adamawa states have established peace agencies and commissions to address communal conflicts and the role of insurgents.”
Lugga said that banditry and insurgency led to the closure of schools and other non-educational institutions in eight local councils of the state, adding that district heads of the eight councils had relocated to the state capital while two major roads in the state had been closed to vehicular movement due to the activities of bandits.
“There is no single day in the last two and half years that somebody will not be killed or abducted in the state. It is really a state of war; more than conflict,” he said.
Noting that he had been a member of no fewer than 48 presidential committees on insecurity in the country, Lugga lamented that only one of the committees’ recommendations had been implemented.
He identified poverty and unemployment, out-of-school children, proliferation of light arms and ammunition, corruption, poor police welfare and abuse of religion as some of the causes of insecurity in the country.
The don recommended the use of war contractors to end insecurity in the country.
Said he: “For the first time, to the best of my knowledge, recommendation on presidential community on insecurity was implemented by President Goodluck Jonathan. That was why elections went on peacefully in Borno State in 2015 without bloodshed.
“The committee members worked tirelessly. We made contact with the key Boko Haram commanders minus Shekau who refused to key into the programme. After successful consultation, they agreed to a ceasefire. What we did was to agree with the commanders in Kaduna, Kano and all the states where Boko Haram was operating. Then we wrote a letter to Shekau through one of his commandants, who gave him facts and figures in Islam to dialogue with President Jonathan.
“We ensured that Shekau was pushed to Sambisa forest, which ensured peaceful conduct of the 2015 elections.”
According to him, the war contractors helped to put Shekau in place. Unfortunately, the current government has refused to use war contractors. Even the United States of America used mercenaries in Afghanistan.
