26th September, 2012
Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State, in central Nigeria, has directed the state’s police command to flush out hoodlums in the state before Friday.
Dankwambo gave the directive on Wednesday in Gombe when the Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of Police in charge of Zone III, Mr Tambari Mohammed, paid him a courtesy visit.
The governor said reports had reached him about the activities of hoodlums in the state who had been terrorising innocent citizens and asked the police to deal with anyone breaching security guidelines and engaging in lawlessness.
“I assure you, you have my support to crack down on any kind of militant. You have my support to track down any organisation or community, people or organisation that sponsors disharmony in Gombe State.
“Some people say they are `Kalare’; we don’t have Kalare in Gombe State. But if we have resurgence of people that say they are kalare, we are ready to kalare them,” he said.
The governor commended the police and other security agencies for maintaining law and security in the state.
Dankwambo, however, urged the police to inform the people about some of the security measures being taken so that the people would cooperate with them.
He also advised the populace to guard against over-zealousness and other recklessness in the course of doing their jobs.
“Recently, we have noticed some kind of harassment, a lot of complaints from the public maybe because of the over-zealousness of some security agencies. I know the work of the security agencies cannot be achieved if there is no harmony between the people and the security agencies. I also know that one of the commitments of the police recently is the issue of community policing. So, I enjoin you people to be working together with the people and not to be intimidating our people; not to be scaring people away,’’ he said.
Mohammed commended Dankwambo for providing the police with six armoured personnel carriers, which he said, had assisted in no small measure in ensuring security in the state.
“The security agencies will work hard to support efforts to ensure that security challenges in the state and the region become a thing of the past. The police are willing and capable of addressing the problem, what matters is the support of the government and people,” he said.