The Director-General, Special Task Force on Illegal Smuggling of Firearms in Kogi State, Elder Friday Sani Makama, has lamented the proliferation of firearms among youths in Kogi East ahead of the November 11 governorship election in the State.
Addressing journalists in Lokoja on Sunday, Makama explained that some influential personalities in the eastern axis are already empowering some youths with dangerous weapons to cause mayhem in the next governorship election.
The former Kogi State House of Assembly lawmaker, while noting that his office cannot be distracted by ethnic bias, said the task force is ready to clamp down on any miscreant across the three senatorial districts.
He described as unfortunate the misconception of some individuals concerning the task force set up by Governor Yahaya Bello to curb illegal arms handling across the three senatorial districts.
“The Governor understudied all my achievements in the past and married it with my admission into the international police corporation and said, ‘we can still make use of this man, bring all these youths and convince them to return arms under their control so that the State can be free of armed robbery, kidnapping, thuggery and many more’.
“Since my appointment, I have received several calls, including some very highly-placed persons who call me to tell me ‘look, the target is that the Governor is trying to make sure that my office will go to Kogi East Senatorial District and disarm them so that the Governor can unleash terror against the people of Kogi East’. They said I should not allow myself to be used. They said they don’t want these young people to be disarmed.
“So that means they have already armed them. That is the meaning. That means the Government has properly contemplated them. They said I should not allow myself to be used to disarm the youths in Kogi East. That the arm they have is the only thing they can rely upon now to do this election.
“You can see. And I asked these prominent citizens, indigenous people of this State. I asked them this question. Do you have any of your children in any part of Kogi East now that have the arms to be able to fight in the next election against the Government in power?
“And the answer is the negative. None of them have their children at home. They are simply giving arms and ammunition to innocent poor children at home so that they can create mayhem.
“My appointment by the Governor has been able to prove the fact that several youths are already being armed to create mayhem in the next election, and I don’t think that there is any reasonable government that will have that level of intelligence and watch you succeed in creating mayhem in the State. Our mandate is very simple, which is to assist security agencies to uncover arms and ammunition across the State.
“In doing this, we work with the Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria police and other sister security agencies to achieve the targeted goal”, he explained.
Makama lauded Governor Bello for his proactive actions, which led to his appointment, saying, “Governor Bello has quickly stopped enemies from doing their evil biddings in Kogi State”.
