'Northern Governors Have Turned Killings, Banditry Into Serious Business' - Arewa Youth President

President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima, has accused Northern governors of turning banditry and killings in the region into business by not doing what is necessary.

Speaking with SaharaReporters, Shettima also blamed President Muhammadu Buhari for not taking definitive steps to end banditry and insurgency in the region.

He attributed the incessant killings to poor leadership in the region.

He said, “The renewed attack emanated from lack of leadership, those who are saddled with responsibilities are not serious.

“What does it take our security forces if not that everything has been politicized and some of them take it as a business that they make so much money out of it. What does it take to wipe off this banditry?

“It is because there is no political will. It has become a business where they receive money in the name of security vote; unaccounted for, non-remittable, so they just continue doing it as a business. The day they wake up and there is no banditry, automatically, no more business.”

Shettima compared the bandit attacks to Boko Haram, saying Northern governors lacked the political will to put an end to the unnecessary killings.

He said, “When there is no clear direction or policy by government to tackle the issue and with lack of political will to address issues, things will continue to metamorphose to something else.

“When the leaders lack the political will to address these issues, it becomes the order of the day and this is exactly what we are facing in the northern part of the country.

“Banditry issue is high, Nigerians are tired of hearing we will let us see it. Do it and don’t tell us, just do it because things are getting out of hand.”

Shettima said the President must immediately swing into action to end the killing in his state, noting that it the issue was not addressed, it could spread to other parts of the country.

He added, “It will be impossible until we have a government at the central willing and determined to address this issue once and for all.

“They need a political will to address this issue, otherwise, what is affecting us today will turn out to be a serious problem in other parts of the country. We must see it as our collective responsibility to fight it out, all hands must be on deck.”