The Governor of Plateau State Mr. Simon Lalong has said that he is delighted that the military will now be able to deploy Tucano jets against terrorists following their recent re-categorization. He said this while speaking with State House Correspondents in Abuja.
He lamented that kidnapping has become more prominent in Plateau state.
He said, “Well, in terms of security, some of the issues we raised with the president last year, we’re already beginning to see progress, especially you’ll recall that we mentioned that we are very eager to see the use of the Tucano helicopters so that we can have massive engagement with all the bandits.
“Part of it was also the status of some of these bandits around and you can see that already the federal government has described them as terrorists, the military is now going to do full engagement. These were some of the issues that were raised in our communique in Kaduna.
“So, we’re already beginning to see and we’re also getting prepared in the north for such action, that’s what we’re expecting. So, if we are going to …, let us do massive action that will ensure that within the first quarter of this year, people will have hope that we’re going to live with security and we’re going to live peacefully in all the parts of the north because we’re expecting these actions before the next rainy season.
“You recall that we’re an agrarian region and we want our people to go back to the farm and in most cases, it is this insecurity that is keeping them away.
“Those are some of the things and then addressed in collaboration with the security and also our vigilante, the issue of kidnapping, which is now getting very serious. So, those are some of the issues that we’re also meeting and we’re preparing for.
“The last part of it is the engagement of traditional rulers. Of course, we’ve sent a bill to the National Assembly on the role of traditional rulers and we’re hoping that we’ll pursue that on behalf of Northern governors to ensure that this bill gets through so that traditional ruler will also complement the efforts of the government in addressing insecurity in their various states.”