Edo Train Station Kidnap: Atiku Lists Practical Solutions to Stop Re-occurence

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the recent abduction of passengers at Igueben station in Igueben local government area of Edo state.

Atiku, via Twitter on Sunday, January 8, said his thoughts and those of his family are with the victims as he prays for their safe return.

But moving forward, the former vice president noted that the ugly development once again brings to the fore the fact that Nigeria's security architecture urgently needs overhauling, a change he has been advocating.

The Adamawa-born politician listed procedures by which the country's security apparatus can be reformed. He listed the steps as follows:

1. Constitutional review

Atiku said amending the constitution to allow for state and community policing as a first line of security is the first step.

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2. Intelligence gathering

Secondly, Atiku called for the modification of Nigeria's security apparatus to pay a greater premium to intelligence gathering and crime prevention than the current reactive approach.

Speaking more on this, he said:

"It is unacceptable for terrorists to plan attacks of this nature, mobilise arms and ammunition, secure funding and move large numbers of people across large spaces without detection by security agencies."

3. Use of technology

Atiku added that the security agencies will work better if they deploy technology toward tracking these terrorists and degrading their existing capacity to attack citizens across the country.

4. Diplomatic pressure

If given the mandate in the February 25 presidential election, Atiku intends to apply the diplomatic pressures needed to stem the free flow of light arms and assault weapons across the West African sub-region and the borders.

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Atiku is certain that by doing this, Nigeria will severely restrict the capacity for terrorists to re-arm themselves to execute attacks.

5. Reducing number of out-of-school children

He went on to suggest that greatly reducing the number of out-of-school children on the streets and improving the economy to create jobs for vast numbers of unemployed Nigerians will drastically shrink the pool from which these terrorists recruit people for their nefarious activities.

Confident that these steps will put to rest the problem of insecurity in Nigeria and vowing to implement them if he emerges victorious in the upcoming election, Atiku stated:

"I firmly believe that these actions will go a long way towards reducing incidents of insecurity and providing the secure environment needed for economic growth.

"And I commit to implementing these initiatives if Nigerians trust me with their mandate and elect me as their president next month."

Panic as gunmen strike again, abduct passengers from Edo train station, others injured

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Scores of passengers were kidnapped by gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, from a train station in Edo state.

The passengers were waiting to board a train from Igueben in Igueben local government area of Edo state to Warri in Delta state on Saturday evening, January 7.

Many of the travellers also sustained bullet wounds in the ensuing melee.

Source: Legit.ng