Gov Ganduje Disowns ‘Shege Ka Fasa’
- Declares Kano no go area for criminals
- CNG begs for endorsement
BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has disowned the newly formed Northern security network tagged, ‘Operation Shege Ka Fasa’, insisting that the Kano State Government does not in anyway need such regional initiative.
Addressing State House correspondents after a large delegation of eminent personalities from Kano State met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday, Governor Ganduje said the State Government has made huge investments in security at various levels and therefore finds it unnecessary to embrace any other external arrangement now.
The Governor was reacting to the so-called Northern Regional Security Initiative, ‘Shege Ka Fasa’ unveiled recently by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) that sought endorsement from the northern governors as part of measures to tackle insecurity within the region.
According to Governor Ganduje, the state’s security architecture has made the North west State a no go area now for criminals, adding that the state government currently provides a conducive environment for the security agencies to operate efficiently.
He said besides setting up the Command and Control Centre where security agencies communicate and share intelligence with one another, the state government has constructed an army training Centre at Falgore, which houses the biggest forest in the country.
The Governor, who disclosed that about N500 million had been committed to the project, also said his administration’s free and compulsory education from basic to secondary levels was already addressing the dual menace of mass out of school children and early girl child marriage in the State.
Responding to enquiries on the frosty relationship between the State government and Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, who was conspicuously missing from the large Kano delegation that visited the President, Governor Ganduje admitted that talks were ongoing to resolve all the issues in contention.
In unveiling their Northern Regional Security Initiative, “SHEGE KA FASA”, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) said the North has, in the last 12 years, struggled with disabling challenges that include dwindling economy, rising poverty and more worrying, a crippling security situation.
Speaking through its spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the group lamented that all these issues have contributed to take a huge toll on lives, property and the overall cohesion of the region.
Suleiman noted that security challenges manifested in 2008 in the form of a deadly insurgency from the Northeast and within a short time, spread to other parts and virtually turned the entire region into a battlefield.
The Coalition said it is sad that while the insurgency raged, other disturbances were created in the region in the form of cattle rustling that pitched northern communities against each other.
It therefore urged governors of the 19 Northern States to embrace the initiative which represents a wake up move to effectively address the insecurity in the region.
