Nov 11 Poll: Task Force Accuse ‘Influential Persons’ of Arming Youths in Kogi East

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The Special Task Force on Illegal Smuggling of Fire Arms has raised alarm over stockpile of arms in Kogi East senatorial district ahead of November 11 governorship election in the state.

Addressing journalists in Lokoja on Sunday, the Director General of the task force, Friday Sanni Makama, explained that some influential persons in the Eastern axis of the state are already empowering some youths with dangerous weapons to cause mayhem during the November election.

Makama said his office will not be distracted by ethnic bias, insisting that the task force is ready to clamp down on any miscreant across the three senatorial districts of the state.

He commended Governor Yahaya Bello for setting up the task force to curb illegal arms handling across the state.

“The Governor understudied all my achievement in the past and married it with my admission into the international police corporation and said, we can still make use of this man, bring all this youths and convince them to return arms under their control so that the state can be free of armed robbery, kidnapping, thuggery and other crimes.

“Since my appointment, I have received several calls, to include some very highly placed persons who called to tell me look, the target is that the Governor is trying to make sure that my office will go to Kogi East Senatorial District and disarm them so that the Governor can unleash terror against the people of Kogi East. They said I should not allow myself to be used. They said they don’t want these young people to be disarmed.

“So that means they have already armed them. That is the meaning. That means the government has properly contemplated them.

“They said I should not allow myself to be used to disarm the youths in Kogi East. That the arms they have is the only thing they can rely upon for the election. 

“You can see. And I asked these prominent citizens, indigenous people of this state. I asked them this question; Do you have any of your children in any part of Kogi East now that is armed to be able to fight in the next election against the government in power?

“And the answer is to the negative. None of them have their children at home. They are simply giving arms and ammunition to innocent poor children at home so that they can cause mayhem. 

“My appointment by the Governor has been able to prove the fact that several youths are already being armed to cause mayhem in the next election, and I don’t think that there is any reasonable government that will have that level of intelligence, and watch you succeed in creating mayhem in the state.

“Our mandate is very simple, which is to assist security agencies to uncover arms and ammunition across the State.

“In doing this, we work with the Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria police and other sister security agencies to achieve the target goal,” he explained

Makama lauded Governor Bello for the proactive actions which led to his appointment saying “Governor Bello has quickly stopped enemies from doing their evil biddings in Kogi state”.


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