INSECURITY: Buhari vows to tackle NW bandits

President Muhammadu Buhari has promised that the Armed Forces will continue to take decisive actions to tackle the security challenges in the North-West.

Buhari made the vow on Thursday while inaugurating the Muhammadu Indimi Centre for Distance Learning and an International Conference at the University of Maiduguri.

“I have ordered and started receiving military hardware from the United States, military aircraft, helicopters and armoured vehicles and we are going to be very, very hard on them (bandits).

The President, who was pleased with the improved security in the North-East, decried the activities of bandits in the North-West

He said: “It is the same people stealing other peoples property and killing here and there.

The president urged Nigerians to judge his administration based on what the condition was when he was sworn-in and what it is now.

“In the South-South, somehow they (militants) believed had a case and we told their leadership the truth when they came to visit me.

“When they sabotaged the oil pipelines or the wells, the land get polluted, the fish move further into the ocean and the ordinary people cannot farm and most of their people are farmers and fishermen.

“They can neither fish nor farm. So who are they hurting, other Nigerians or their own people? It is just common sense and maybe they listened to that and they have left the pipelines alone.

“But the problem now is the North-West. As I said, same people, same culture, we are going to deal with them.

“I ask Nigerians to please tell the less informed that in Africa, we are the biggest country and we are potentially the richest. Let us utilise this gift from God to empower our people, our region and our continent instead of wasting our time.

“I swear by the Holy Qur’an that I will uphold the constitution of the country and by that I must relinquish power in 17 months time.  I will go, God’s willing. I hope whoever is coming after me will try to do the three things I tried to do.