The governors of Kogi, Niger and Kwara states, which were worst hit by banditry and terrorism, shunned the North Central Security Summit held in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, on Monday to proffer solutions to the complex security challenges facing the region.
The governors who did not attend the security summit were Usman Ahmed Ododo of Kogi, Muhammad Umar Bago of Niger, and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara. Also, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nyeson Wike, was absent and sent in a representative.
Kogi, Niger, Kwara and other states have been experiencing mass abductions and killings for some time now by suspected bandits and terrorists.
The governors had sent representatives to the summit.
However, analysts opined that, given the security challenges facing the region, the six governors would have taken the event as seriously as it deserved.
Our correspondent reports that only Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue state governors, Caleb Mutfwang, Abdullahi Sule and Hyacinth Alia, who hosted the summit, were present and participated in the event.
Reacting, Middle Belt Forum (MBF)’s spokesman, Luka Binniyat, called on the North Central state governors to prevail on Taraba, Gombe, among other governors under the Middle Belt map to form the Middle Belt Governors’ Forum. “They should take the security of not only the North Central but that of the entire middle belt region seriously”, he said.
