North Central Governors Forum decides not to create regional security network like Amotekun

NASARAWA State's Governor Abdullahi Sule has revealed that the six state that make up the north central geo-political zone have no plans to launch a regional security network similar to the one floated by their southwestern colleagues known as Amotekun.

Over recent years, Nigeria has been plagued with insecurity, particularly at the hands of heavily armed Fulani herdsmen who spread terror in rural villages. More than any other part of the country, the north central geo-political zone has been hard hit, especially in Benue and Plateau states where villages have been repeatedly ransacked and hundreds massacred in bloody raids.

In response to the problems, the six governors of the southwest geo-political zone created the regional network Amotekun, that will assist the police in gathering intelligence. Governor Sule said that despite this, the North Central Governors Forum have no plans to create a similar outfit, adding that instead, they will invest in community policing.

Governor Sule said: “We had our own security summit where we invited all the six governors to Lafia and they all came. We had a very serious discussion about security concerns common to the zone and at that forum, we decided community policing is the best option for us in this zone and the community policing we are talking about begins from the ward level up to the state.

“We will involve youths, women and some of the vigilance groups that we have. We invited traditional rulers and all the major stakeholders to come together and identify their security risks and challenges and how do we address them.

"We will provide the resources to help them to make sure that communities are protected, so, that is why in the north central states, we adopted community policing as our best option for all the six states including Abuja. About the southwest, I don’t know the structure and I don’t know how it will operate."