A federal lawmaker representing Kogi West has dismissed the recent wave of kidnappings and armed attacks across Nigeria as a coordinated effort to embarrass the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, while pledging government resolve to rescue abducted schoolchildren in Oyo and Borno states.
Sen. Sunday Steve Karimi, speaking on Saturday at his Abuja residence during a reception for constituents from the seven local government areas of Kogi West, said the security deterioration was “orchestrated and targeted” rather than a sign of systemic state failure.
“Local miscreants and their foreign collaborators are intent on bringing the administration to its knees,” Karimi said.
His remarks came against a backdrop of intensifying insecurity. About three weeks ago, 45 schoolchildren and teachers were abducted in Esinele and Yawota communities in Oyo State’s Ori-Ire Local Government Area. Retired Maj.-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, a former Director of Defence Information, and his wife were also kidnapped in Katsina State’s Matazu area within the same period.
Security incidents have also been reported in Benue, Plateau, Kwara and Ogun states in recent weeks.
On Saturday evening, police rescued Mrs. Olaide Busayo John-Paul, younger sister of former Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu, along with her twin sons, 72 hours after their abduction in Ibadan. Two suspects were killed during the operation. Separately, a joint Nigerian-Beninese military operation routed insurgents in parts of Niger State, seizing weapons and operational equipment.
Karimi, who chairs the Senate Committee on Services, said he was optimistic the Oyo and Borno schoolchildren would be freed. “Government is on top of the situation and every effort will be made to safeguard every Nigerian,” he said.
He credited improved inter-agency cooperation for recent security gains and called on Nigerians to support the administration’s push to establish state-level police forces.
Leader of the delegation which visited him, Hon Abdulganiyu Salaudeen, commended Senator Karimi for his efforts in the development of the senatorial district over the past three years.
Salaudeen, a former council chairman and state constituency member in the Kogi State House of Assembly, observed that Karimi had acquitted himself creditably over the last three years of representing Kogi West in the nation’s uppermost legislative chambers.
He commended him for proactively supporting the curtailment of insecurity in the zone, while also striving for the rehabilitation of the arterial Kabba-Isanlu-Egbe-Ilorin road, which is very central to the socioeconomy and security of Kogi West.
Salaudeen conveyed the prayers and good wishes of the zone to the All Progressives Congress, (APC), President Tinubu and Senator Karimi in the emerging political process.
