‘We urgently need state police’ — Atiku condemns attack on Edo train station

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says the country urgently needs state police. 

The former vice-president said this in a Twitter post on Sunday while reacting to the attack on the train station in Igueben, Edo state.

TheCable had reported that gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, kidnapped many passengers and left some with bullet wounds at the train station in Edo state

While condemning the attack, Atiku said he will put in place specific initiatives if elected president in the coming election.

“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,” Atiku wrote.

“The thoughts of my family and I are with the abducted and their families as we pray for their safe return. 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.

“We can do this by doing the following; amending our constitution to allow for state and community policing as a first line of security.

“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, mobilise arms and ammunition, secure funding and move large numbers of people across large spaces without detection by security agencies.”

Atiku added that there is the need to deploy technology toward tracking terrorists and degrading their existing capacity to attack people. 

“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,” he added. 

“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.”