Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has adjudged Kwara state to be one of the safest destinations to live in Nigeria, attributing calm security atmosphere in the state to security operatives who ensure that protection of lives and properties of the people are top priorities.
The governor made this statement in a media chat with journalists on Midland FM and other state owned radio stations Thursday, November 2, 2022.
AbdulRazaq said, “The first thing we should do is to recognise and thank our security agencies. They make us sleep at night. Arguably, kwara is one of the safest states in Nigeria, but we don’t appreciate our security men enough. I am using this opportunity to thank them and say on behalf of the government and the people of Kwara state. We thank them all, we have this misconception of stereotyping the police by few bad elements at checkpoints and castigate them but as I speak to you, there are security agents in various local government gathering intelligence, maintaining law and order and some of them are on the road making sure the roads are free, so thanks to our security agents.
“So, how have we been able to sustain the peace, There is a state security architecture from state executive, the legislature, the judiciary, the local government and the traditional rulers and have been very proactive in making sure security is maintained within their domains.
The governor further expressed appreciation to traditional institution for providing hints that assist in beefing up the state security system.
“So, let us also in the state appreciate our traditional rulers for the work they are doing, For the information they give the state government in making sure the state is kept safe. On the kidnap issue, In kwara, we experience kidnapping. Unlike other states that can’t even count (number of kidnappings) but what we should be careful because moving towards election next year, kidnapping is domestic and insider job. People try to take advantage of political season, kidnapping people within their neighborhood, advertising it to attract politicians to come and pay ransom in order to pitch politicians to compete amongst themselves as to who will first pay the ransom and we will make sure this doesn’t happen.
Speaking on hooliganism, the governor said the era of using miscreants to distrupt elections has become history.
“You will remember the Offa robbery incident, There is no election that took place before that was not disrupted by hooligans, thugs who were paid by those in opposition today to take advantage and maintain their strength in power. Now we have made sure that those were history. I mentioned Offa, Someone will say what is happening with the case of Offa robbery. Let me tell you, There was a case we inherited and we looked at the files and we saw the cases were not filled properly. The case will be thrown out. So we have to start the case afresh with proper investigation and proper documentation. But by and large, kwara is safe from Kosubosu to Osi, from Patigi to Afon. You will notice last election was the first in recent that a gunshot wasn’t fired and the security agents were allowed to do their responsibility and they make sure bad elements were taken out of the system, driven out of the town. We will continue to maintain that, making sure our architecture is tight. Once again, I thank the security agents for doing their work in kwara state,” he concluded.
