Influx Of Bandits: We’re Under Security Threat – Bauchi State Govt. Says

BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, BAUCHI – Arising from what it described as influx of bandits from its neighbouring Yobe State, the Bauchi State Government has cried out over security threats confronting it.

It said that dreaded Islamic militants and Boko Haram members out of which five have so far been arrested for vandalizing an MTN installation in Gamawa LGA with the intention of blocking communication in the area in preparation for attack, is a pointer to the danger the state is facing.

The State Government which stated these through the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mohammed Sabiu Baba when he briefed journalists at the end of an emergency security council meeting at the Government House on Monday, said; “Following the overrunning of Geidam in Yobe state by the Boko Haram militants, there has been influx of people into the state through four Local Government Areas in the Northern part of the Bauchi State”.

Baba and heads of security agencies in the State further said; “This influx of the displaced people has put the state under security threat, our facilities are now overstretched and we are not comfortable with the development”.

The SSG announced that security strategies have been developed to ensure that the threat did not turn into attack in the state saying; “profiling of all the people coming into Bauchi State particularly in the four affected LGAs will be done in order to discovered those with dangerous weapons and demonize them”.

Baba however assured that the state government will ensure that the joint operations of the security agencies will be intensified particularly air surveillance around the affected LGAs.

While fielding questions from journalists, the SSG said; “the people are not camped in a particular area but moving around the four LGAs and are harbored by residents of the communities, stressing that security agencies will go round to fish them out.

With regards to displaced persons, the SSG assured that the government will identify them in order to provide relief materials for their well-being adding that the government will not just watch them suffer.

The affected gateway Local Government Areas of Bauchi in question are Gamawa, Dambam, Darazo and Zaki which are sharing boundaries with Yobe state and close to the seized Geidam town by Boko Haram insurgents.