It’s in our hands to make it costly and unattractive for vagabonds of any hue to find comfort and the leeway to disturb the peace in Kebbi state. We, the people of Kebbi state MUST be on the look out, with eyes wide open, to trace and expose the bad eggs amongst us.

The audacious kidnapping of an 18 year old girl right inside her father’s house at Gangaren Ama of Birnin Kebbi Metropolis a few days ago by gun men, should serve as a wake up call to all of us, to either do what it takes to make it hot for criminals so that we clip their wings at this teething stage or we cocoon away and hand over the initiative to them, to embolden them to turn our land into a haven for themselves.

The implication for all of us in the event of this happening, is that no one, no matter how rich or poor will be safe either in their houses, on the farm, in the offices, in the markets or just walking around in our town or on the streets.

It we allow either fear or sheer abdication of civic responsibility to dissuade us from cooperating with one another and with security forces, being watchful and reporting suspicious characters or movements and sharing intelligence, we will be, inadvertently encouraging the criminals to feel that Kebbi is such a walkover or a comfort zone for them.

Luckily for us in Birnin Kebbi for instance, the state capital is such a manageable city that is not so big as to make it difficult to see new faces within our neighborhoods and localities. If we are watchful and our traditional, community, religious leaders and elders are alive to their responsibilities, it would not be difficult to quickly mobilise ourselves and team up with security agencies, to nip potential unsavory criminal implosions into the bud.

The state government should, as a matter of utmost importance, mobilise the people, provide leadership, make information on civic duties available, assist security agencies with logistics and resources within resource  availability/constraints and ensure that all stakeholders, including township youth groups, Keke NAPEP and motorcycle operators, market associations, vigilante groups and others are encouraged and pushed to key into the overall security architecture for our cities, towns and villages.

Importantly again, we should, at individual level, be prepared to quickly extend help to any shout for help from our neighbors. A situation where help is either absent or slow in coming when someone in distress calls for it is rather cowardly, unfortunate and inimical to our collective desire for peace in our state.

The Kebbi state Police Command has provided hotline numbers for rapid response in case you see anything untoward or you or someone close to you or your house are personally in distress.

The numbers to call are:

08038797644

09062925404

Let’s save a life, let’s make Kebbi hot for criminals.

Yakubu Ahmed-BK