Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti state, says some of those pulling the strings of banditry and kidnapping are funding the activities of Boko Haram insurgents in the north-east.
Fayemi spoke with newsmen on Monday evening after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja stressed that there is a direct correlation between Boko Haram insurgency and banditry as well as kidnapping in certain areas in the country.
According to him, the nation is in urgent need of a political will to bridge the gap between the government and the youths as well as synergy among security operatives to tackle the Boko Haram crisis.
Fayemi said apart from tackling criminality with force, the government must also resolve issues such as “poverty, inequality, social disconnection between leadership and the youth, which had rendered the youth available to derailing tendencies”.
While noting that military action alone will not be sufficient in the war against the insurgents, Fayemi disclosed that President Buhari will approach the national assembly for more funding for the equipment of the armed forces.
“I can tell you and I don’t think I’ll be breaching any confidence that one of the good news I came away with, from the President now on this issue is that he’s already informed the National Assembly that they will be receiving a special request from him on procurement of equipment on an accelerated basis for our security services, because that was one of the issues that we put before him and he was very categorical that yes, we have a point, some of the equipment that had been procured are on the way, they haven’t arrived, but they will soon arrive.
“There is also a need to buy more equipment and he is going into government-to-government partnership with a number of countries and that would necessitate an accelerated clearance from the National Assembly”.
