Insecurity: Wike asks area council chairmen, monarchs to set up vigilante units

Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), has asked council chairmen and traditional rulers to set up vigilante groups to assist in fighting insecurity.

On Wednesday, Wike held a meeting with council chairmen and traditional rulers in Abuja.

The FCT minister, in a statement on Wednesday by Anthony Ogunleye, FCTA director of press, said traditional rulers and council chairmen have roles to play in ensuring security in their domains by providing credible information to security agencies.

“Traditional rulers have a role to play in securing their domain. You know those around your domain,” the statement reads.

“If there are faces that you think are not familiar within that axis, it is within your powers to report such faces or call your area council chairman to be able to make a report to security agencies or to my office so that actions can be taken.

“We have instructed all the area councils to set up vigilante units and we believe that those vigilantes will not be the ones perpetrating the crime. Therefore, they must be profiled to know who these people are.

“Do we know them? Are they from our communities? So we don’t go and say we want to solve problems while we are causing problems for ourselves.

“We must work hard because insecurity is not written on anybody’s face. Nobody knows who may be the next victim and that is why we must do everything possible to see that we don’t allow our subjects to continue to be victims of these criminals.”

The minister said efforts are underway to address the menace of taxi robbery, popularly known as “one chance”.

“Very soon, we are going to roll out our buses which will be painted in Abuja colour. In that case, we will not allow taxis that are not painted in Abuja colour to operate here, so that those ‘one chance’ will no longer be there,” Wike said.

He added that the FCTA will also provide bus terminals for various routes in the FCT which will serve as the operational base for registered buses and taxis.

“If we have three to four terminals, it will be designed in such a way that these vehicles will go to so, so areas. If you are travelling to so, so area, go to that terminal and those that will operate there are taxis and buses that we have profiled, we know them,” he said.