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The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has assured Sokoto residents that the military’s presence in the state is to crush the bad elements.
He, however, charged the residents to report any jobless person living a flamboyant lifestyle to security agents.
Speaking at the Sokoto State Governor’s Office, on Tuesday, he said such persons, if probed further, may be part of informants to suspected bandits disturbing the peace of the state.
The minister was in Sokoto together with Chief of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa, on the directive of President Bola Tinubu to ensure bandits terrorising the northern part of the country, especially the North West states, were defeated.
“We are here to crush the bad elements in our midst and by the special grace of God, we are crushing the bad elements among us.
“Like what we did while I was the governor of Zamfara State, let me call on the people of Sokoto State to always give information to the security agents.
“If you see someone who is not doing any work and such a person is changing cars, spending money lavishly, please do not hesitate to report such a person, as such persons are liable to be informants to bandits,” he said.
He called on state residents to continue to support security agencies by providing adequate information to the troops.
He said the security agents would rely on the information from residents to tackle the rising case of insecurity.
Speaking during the visit, Governor Ahmed Aliyu called on politicians in the state to stop politicising the insecurity.
“We should stop sending or sharing any fake information relating to security in the state. These bad elements do not know if you are PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), APC (All Progressives Congress) or APGA (All Progressives Grand Alliance). They do not know which religion we are practicing and that is why we should come together to deal with them.
“Let me also use this opportunity to thank President Bola Tinubu for directing you to come down to Sokoto State to ensure you put an end to the issue of insecurity in the state,” he said.
The governor said his administration, as part of measures to ensure the issue of banditry was dealt with in the state, provided necessary support to all the security agencies in the state.
“This includes the donation of operational vehicles and other logistics to ensure that their work becomes easy.
“We have also employed 200 persons from each of the 23 Local Government Areas into the service of Sokoto Community Guard Corps, to complement the job of the security team in the state.
“As you are aware, the issue of security is not for public consumption, so, Your Excellency, we are doing a lot.
“I am sure with your coming today, the people of the state will sleep with their two eyes closed, having known that you are a man of your word,” he said.
He further assured that the state government would continue to support security agencies, especially troops of Operation Hadarin Daji, to ensure they delivered on their responsibility of securing the state.
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