Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has asked Muslims to stop providing support for bandits and kidnappers in the country.
The governor lamented that most of the banditry and kidnapping across the country are being perpetrated by Muslims.
He, therefore, warned fellow Muslims to desist from harbouring bandits and kidnappers, saying they must be courageous to hand them over to security agencies.
The Governor said this on Thursday at the Government House shortly after performing the Eid prayers to mark the Sallah.
He said: “We are grateful to Allah. Ramadan has been a period of prayers and devotion. As a nation we need to reflect deeply on our common existence because we are challenged by so many aspects of our misdemeanors, crime and criminality.
”As a Moslem, most of the criminality is coming from us as members of the Islamic faith. That’s the issue of banditry, kidnapping and the rest.
“However, we must be very courageous to say it. It’s not something acceptable in the tenet of Islam. We should fear God to make sure we don’t give ourselves, our community and even our religion a bad name. We must have to change as this is really escalating to other parts of the country.”
The Governor, who called on the Federal government to work towards improving the security architecture, stated that tackling insecurity is a collective effort.
According to him, political, traditional, and religious leaders have major roles to play.
He added: ”We know these bandits. We know where they stay and what they do. Sometimes they are aided and abetted by us.
“We should fish them out because the police in their limited numbers are already overwhelmed due to insufficient human capital.
”Apparently, the FG security architecture has failed not because of any compromise but because the situation is overwhelming.”
