Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the Edo train attack. He has also listed five clear ways he will end insecurity if elected next month.
NewsOnline reports that the former vice president said what happened Igueben in Edo State, where bandits attacked a train and abducted almost all the passengers despite the March 2022 train attack on Kaduna-Abuja rail line showed that the country’s security architecture needs overhauling.
In his condolence to the families of victims who lost their lives in the attack on Sunday, Atiku said if elected on February 25, he would implement a five-ways plan to immediately arrest the terrorism, banditry and Fulani herdsmen attacks across the country.
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“The attack on a train station in Igueben LGA of Edo State, during which armed men kidnapped an undetermined number of people, is the latest in a long condemnable line of security breaches previously unseen in our national history.
“The thoughts of my family, and I are with the abducted and their families as we pray for their safe return,” Atiku said.
He further added, “While we pray, it is important also to point out that this serves as the latest reminder of the urgent need to reform our security architecture to better safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerian citizens.”
The former vice president said he will amend the constitution to give room for state and community policing. He will modify the security apparatus to pay a greater premium to intelligence gathering. he added that technology will be deployed across the country to assist in early detection and fighting of crimes and criminality.
According to Atiku, “We can do this by doing the following: 1. Amending our constitution to allow for state and community policing as a first line of security.
“2. Modify our security apparatus to pay a greater premium to intelligence gathering and crime prevention than our current reactive approach. It is unacceptable for terrorists to plan attacks of this nature, mobilize arms and ammunition, secure funding and move large numbers of people across large spaces without detection by security agencies.
“3. Deploy technology toward tracking these terrorists and degrading their existing capacity to attack our people across the country.
“4. Apply the diplomatic pressures needed to stem the free flow of light arms and assault weapons across the West African sub-region and our borders. By doing this, we will severely restrict the capacity for terrorists to re-arm themselves to execute attacks.
“5. Greatly reducing the numbers of out-of-school children on our streets and improving the economy to create jobs for vast numbers of unemployed Nigerians, thereby reducing the pool from which these terrorists recruit people for their nefarious activities.”
“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,” Atiku added.
