Security operatives are dodging bandits and mocking victims – Sultan of Sokoto

The Sultan of Sokoto and President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, has accused security operatives of only arriving scenes of attacks when bandits have left and also mocking victims of attacks.

Speaking at the second quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) in Abuja on Thursday, May 18, the monarch said the resurgence of insecurity after the general elections as very alarming.

He said;

“Throughout the campaigns and the elections, we never had these cases of insecurity. Suddenly, after the elections, the killings continued across Niger, Plateau, Kaduna and other places.

“These killings are definitely not related to religion, but the activities of some set of uninformed people.

“Imagine a situation where bandits would invade a community, kill people and destroy their properties, with little or no resistance from the security officials, only for the security officials to appear long after the attacks and perhaps, to mock the people or look at the ashes of destroyed items.

“Few days ago, it was reported that some United States Embassy staff were killed and burnt in Anambra State. That’s barbaric and shouldn’t have happened because there is no justification for that.

“Why this resurgence? Definitely, these resurgences are not religious. Since a new government is coming in, we’re sure we can engage the government to hit the ground running in bringing solutions to these problems.

“But we cannot continue that way because when bandits just go into people’s communities, kill them and burn their houses and nothing is done, then when the deed is done, the security agencies will go there to do what? To look at the ashes that are being burnt?”