from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
ABUJA, (CAJ News) – THE deadly attacks in northern Nigeria are a gruesome indicator of the arduous task awaiting the incoming Nigeria government in dealing with banditry in the West African country.
Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, will have his work cut out in stemming insecurity in Africa’s biggest nation, by population (219 million people), largest economy and at times the most volatile.
So-called bandits and unknown assailants perpetrated the attacks in the states of Kano and Zamfara this past weekend.
According to authorities, a Divisional Police Officer (DPO), a police inspector and a vigilante member were reported killed in the attack by bandits in Zamfara.
In Kano, unknown gunmen broke into the residence of a village head and shot him dead.
Tinubu condemned the gruesome attacks.
“As a country we have to come together to defeat these merchants of death and terror once and for all,” the president-elect stated.
Barring legal challenges by his rivals in the elections bearing fruit, Tinubu is to assume office on May 29.
There is no doubt the uphill task awaiting the new administration as militants run rampant in Nigeria, in the form of kidnap gangs, bandits and the Islamist Boko Haram sect.
“Mindless killings and atrocities like this should have no place in our country,” Tinubu said of the attacks in Kano and Zamfara.
Nigeria is synonymous with violent crime.
The outgoing government of President Muhammadu Buhari assumed power in 2015 on a campaign premised on ending the bloodbath.
It had mixed fortunes but deserves credit for blunting the terror by the Boko Haram group northeast of Nigeria.
However, kidnap gangs and bandits are holding the nation hostage.
Tinubu won the February 25 elections but his main rivals, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, have challenged the announcement of the former Lasgos governor as winner of the presidential poll.
– CAJ News