By Yakubu Lamai
Given the fact that security challenges in Nasarawa State used to come in form of kidnapping, banditry, cattle rustling and farmer-herders’ crises, Engr Abdullahi A. Sule allocated of N14.3 billion naira of the 2020 budget to Security which represents 12.66 percent and N2.8 billion was later added by the state lawmakers.
Engr Sule was also one of the first governors to embrace community policing and inaugurate the Nasarawa State Community Policing Advisory Committee, and to complement the effort of the State Security Agencies in the rural areas, the Governor also inaugurated the Law on Volunteer Guard (Vigilante); and the Kidnapping Act Prohibition Law on Wednesday, 26th February, 2020, aside from a multitude of proactive ways which A.A. Sule has continued to adopt in tackling security challenges.
On Monday, April 27th 2020, Sule donated 3 Brand New Hilux vehicles and 15 Motorcycles, Radios, Mobile Handsets and other security gadgets to the Military Special Forces to help in establishing and running 2 Super-camps to contain the security threat of kidnapping along Nasarawa-Udege axis of the State.
These two super-camps were established in Kenyehu, Toto LGA and Mararaban-Udege in Nasarawa LGA from where the security forces struck and destroyed the Dar RUL Salam terrorist cell who attempted to regroup and settle in Uttu forests, and from April 2020 till date, Governor A.A. Sule also approved and allocated a monthly running cost of N10 million naira to the two military camps in Kenyehu & Mararaban-Udege which is run by Army Special Forces so as to provide them with all necessary incentive and facilities that will assist them to bring a lasting solution to the scourge of kidnapping.
In the same vein, Engr Abdullahi A. Sule only last month on August 24th again donated 42 Hilux Vehicles to the Police, Army, Airforce, DSS, Civil Defense and Vigilante, as well as traditional rulers to assist them in penetrating rural areas and dense forests so as to uncover criminal elements like kidnappers and bandits cross the 13 LGAs of the state.
In October 2021, the Nigerian Army through its Acting Director Public Relations, Colonel Sagir Umar praised Engr A.A. Sule for heeding the advice of the military and constructing access road through the dreaded Uttu Forests and contagious hills right to Toto, so as to break terrorists’ cells hiding in the dense forests.
It is to consolidate all these robust security measure and strengthen the security architecture of Nasarawa State that Engr Abdullahi A. Sule has now sought and gained new approval to establish 2 new additional military super camps from the Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Farouk Yahaya, with the singular objective to always stay ahead of the bandits and terrorists and ensure that Nasarawa State remains the safest state in the North Central region.
