Adamawa State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Leader Leneke, says bandit and insurgent attacks across Northern Nigeria have been significantly degraded and are no longer occurring on a daily or weekly basis as they did in the past.
Leneke made the assertion on Tuesday during an appearance on Frontline, a current afffairs programme on Eagle 102.5 fm, Ilese Ijebu, Ogun State, where he assessed the performance of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Northern Nigeria, particularly in the areas of security, agriculture and infrastructure.
The commissioner, however, acknowledged that isolated security incidents still occur, including a recent attack along the Adamawa-Borno border in which several people were reportedly killed.
According to him, the latest incident was unfortunate because the state had believed it had moved beyond such attacks. He described the incident as painful and said the Adamawa State Government, in collaboration with security agencies, was working to restore calm and confidence among residents.
“About yesterday, we had some little security breach in Adamawa along the borderlines of one of our local government areas with Borno State. The insurgents encroached into some parts of some of our communities and quite a number of people lost their lives, unfortunately.”
“It is a very sad and painful situation because we thought for a while we had gone past this phase, this stage, because we’ve not been experiencing that,” he lamented.
Despite the incident, the commissioner said the broader security situation in the North had improved considerably compared with the period before the Tinubu administration.
He said the current administration inherited what he described as a severe security crisis involving kidnappers, insurgents, bandits, unknown gunmen and persistent farmers-herders clashes.
“In terms of security, before the coming of the present administration, you must accept and understand the present administration did not create the current security, challenge and trouble that we face currently as a nation and particularly, northern Nigeria. In fact, if we’re going to be truthful, they met a very dire situation on ground,” Leneke said.
“It was a daily occurrence. You call them farmers-herders splashes and crises. It was a daily occurrence across the length and breadth of the north.”
According to Leneke, insurgency that was once concentrated largely around Borno, Yobe and parts of Adamawa had been substantially degraded under the present security architecture.
“When security problems started, it was at a point localized along the northeastern geopolitical region of the country, Bauchi, Yobe, Adamawa but the epicenter used to be Borno and Yobe and the northern little part of Adamawa state. But today, if you’re fair to this government, you can honestly say the insurgency has been largely degraded”
The commissioner added that the existence of occasional attacks should not obscure what he described as a significant reduction in the frequency of violence.
“There might be, isolated cases here and there, just like the one I mentioned, but they are no longer a daily occurrence. They are no longer a weekly occurrence, not even a monthly occurrence as the case may be.”
Leneke also claimed that the farmers-herders crisis, which had contributed to violence and displacement across several parts of Northern Nigeria, had been largely brought under control.
“The farmers-herders situational crisis that we’ve also experienced across the entire northern region is almost a thing of the past and I can broadly say 85 to 90% of this crisis have been taken care of. Farmers can now go to farm, herders can now also rear their animals without the daily clashes that take place between them.”
The commissioner also said banditry in the North-West had also been substantially degraded, although he stopped short of declaring the problem completely resolved.
He further recalled a period when states such as Zamfara and Katsina were struggling with attacks and when governments appeared unable to effectively confront armed groups.
“I’m not saying it has been totally resolved and taken care of but if we must be honest, this administration and its security architecture have done a very commendable and remarkable job in tackling the situation and degrading it to its PRS minimum for now.”
Leneke said the improvement was also reflected in the ability of residents to travel through roads that were previously considered extremely dangerous. He argued that the reduction in attacks represented a major difference from the security situation under the previous administration.
“People can now ply some of these roads, unlike before, you can’t even think about, plying these roads because you’re almost certain it is a dead trap for you or a dead wish if you decide to do that, because the roads were constantly and consistently manned by these insurgents who attack everyone at will, who carry out their heinous crimes, at their pleasure and as the way they want.”
“There has been drastic improvement. There’s been tremendous improvement and credit must be given to this administration in that regard,” the commissioner said.
Leneke also linked the security gains to increased federal presence and infrastructure development across the region. He cited ongoing federal road projects and other major infrastructure initiatives as evidence that the Nort was receiving greater attention under the Tinubu administration.
“I can also tell you the projects that are federally conceived and carried out are ongoing across the north. Superhighways are also being constructed across the north. If you talk about the Badagry Sokoto, if you’re talking about the Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja-Kano, and all of those, in fairness to this government, credit must be given to the government that, these developmental strides and efforts are taking place in northern Nigeria.”
He further stated that the security situation should therefore be assessed against the conditions inherited by the current administration rather than in isolation while maintaining that the North was not completely free of insecurity, the frequency and intensity of attacks had declined significantly.
The commissioner further disclosed that the Federal Government had approved the establishment of several Nigerian Army battalions across Adamawa State as part of efforts to strengthen security adding that the military formations would be spread across strategic locations in the state.
“In Adamawa state alone, the president has given the approval for the establishment of about five battalions of the Nigerian army across the state, in Ganye, Luman, Madagali, Mubi, all across Adamawa state,” he disclosed.
While defending the Federal Government’s security record, Leneke acknowledged that recent incidents showed that the threat had not completely disappeared.
He said the Adamawa-Borno border attack was a reminder that security agencies must remain vigilant despite the improvements recorded.
His assessment comes against the backdrop of continuing security challenges in parts of Northern Nigeria, where attacks by insurgents, bandits and other criminal groups remain a major concern for residents and authorities.
Leneke nevertheless maintained that the North had moved significantly away from the period when attacks were considered routine, insisting that the Tinubu administration deserved credit for what he described as a drastic improvement in the security situation.
