22nd August, 2021
Aminu Masari, the governor of Katsina has told the the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) that he won’t succumb any intimidation.
Masari stated this on Sunday after the coalition called for his resignation.
The CNG called for Masari’s resignation after the governor told the residents of the state who have been at the receiving end of attacks by bandits to rise above meekness.
Masari, speaking during a visit to Jibia LGA, also told the residents to defend themselves against bandits who come with guns and other dangerous weapons.
However, CNG said Masari’s call was an admission that he was not in charge of the state and had failed in his constitutional responsibility of providing security for its citizens, hence, he should resign.
But the governor responded that he is not the first governor to ask residents to defend themselves against attackers.
He added that the call for his resignation is a “sheer lack of understanding” of the situation in the country.
The governor, via a statement issued on Sunday by Abdul Labaran, his director-general on media, also described the coalition as “self-serving disgruntled elements, masquerading as human rights campaigners by resigning”.
He said security is an exclusive right of the federal government and governors only do what they can to protect their residents.
“Security is on the exclusive list of the Nigerian Constitution, which means it is exclusively a federal government affair,” the statement read in parts.
“In matters of security, a governor is the Chief Security Officer of his state only in name, because the various security chiefs working in the state take orders not from him, but from their superiors in Abuja.
“The only things they take from governors are the financial and material assistance (both solicited and unsolicited), which they extend to the security institutions in the states.
“As constitutionally elected officeholders, governors do not succumb to the intimidation of some self-serving disgruntled elements, masquerading as human rights campaigners by resigning.
“If they are found wanting in the discharge of their responsibilities, the Nigerian Constitution has provided the protocols for easing them out of office, and no House of Assembly is in the dark about that.
“Masari is not the first Governor to make the suggestion. In states where the citizens do not politicise security issues, they rally round their leaders who had similarly admonished their people.
“Therefore, to suggest that governor Masari should resign for his patriotic candor and courage in admonition his people to wake up and resist the bandits by acquiring arms for self-defense, betrays a sheer lack of the understanding of the letter and spirit as well as the workings of the Nigerian Constitution, or a motive which is anything but altruistic.”