The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesome Wike, has criticised the area council chairmen for inaction in the fight against insecurity and unwarranted travels.
The minister berated the council chairs while addressing stakeholders at an emergency security meeting in his office on Tuesday, January 16, expressing deep concern over the apparent lack of proactive measures taken to address the rising insecurity issues within their jurisdictions.
Wike also questioned the rationale behind council chairmen traveling abroad, especially at a time when their local areas are grappling with challenges.
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“This time around we will not be happy, where Area Council Chairmen will leave their responsibilities and travel out. We have gotten reports that Council Chairmen travel anytime and then, if anything happens, they will not call anybody’s name except the FCT Minister.
“Recently, NUT embarked on strike and it is not our fault but the Area Councils’. Primary schools are under the body of the Area Councils but again, it will look as if the Ministers are doing nothing but that is not our responsibility. However, we can’t fold our hands and we have invited them to this meeting to see how we can resolve the problem.
“So council chairmen should know that they must live up to their responsibilities. It is not everything that happens, they would say that it is the Ministers that have not taken steps.”
This development came in response to the appeals from many Nigerians following the rising spate of kidnapping in the FCT.
The ICIR reported how Nigerians called on the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory, Ireti Kingibe, and the Minister to fastrack the ransom donation and prioritise rescuing the remaining children.
On Sunday, January 14, the Nigerian security operatives, particularly the police and Army, also came under fire for failure to rescue abducted family members over ten days after they were kidnapped in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The ICIR observed widespread outrage among Nigerians on social media when it was reported that the gunmen had killed one of the six children kidnapped.
The killing occurred after the release of their father, Mansoor Al-Kadriyar, two days after their abduction. It was reported that the father and the six siblings, who are all females, were abducted on Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
Their abduction and the subsequent release of their father led to the initiation of a crowdfunding campaign (with the hashtag #Najeebaandhersisters) to raise the ransom money as the kidnappers demanded N60 million for the release of the children.
This case of abduction was one of several other kidnapped cases reported in the last few weeks.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M