The Community Guards Corps established by Sokoto State Government recently is not an alternative to the Federal constituted Conventional Security establishments, Yushau Ahmad Kebabe posited.
In a chart with journalists in Sokoto, Yushau who is the committee chairman of the Guards said it’s meant to drive a responsive and purposeful, complementing security measures against crimes.
He also emphasized that it is not an alternative or substitute to the conventional security system operations.
Shortly after the formal signing of the bill into law by Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, he also said it was meant to secure Sokoto State against the menace of insecurity occasioned by banditry.
Aliyu Sokoto who vowed to make Sokoto State a crime free state, asked for the cooperation of security forces whom he urged to embrace the initiative. He added “Sokoto will no longer be attractive nor be a hiding place for bandits, cattle rustlers and kidnappers following this development.
He also stated that his government has put all the necessary mechanisms in place and therefore, all hands must be on deck in providing security for the people whose support is also needed to achieve the desired results, he maintained.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Kebbe said the essence of the corps was to actively complement the efforts of conventional police and strengthen the capacity of the Joint Military and Police including NSCDC operations to curb insecurity in the state.
According to Kebbe who was one time governorship candidate in the state, ” the guard corps will be trained and guided by the conventional military and police security forces operating across the state.
The newly recruited guards corps who mostly are drawn from the local vigilante members, will assist in giving and updating security forces with intelligence, having known every nook and crannies of their communities and terrains.
The governor expressed confidence that they will surely assist the forces in both kinetic and non kinetic approaches, to secure its dear state, he explained.
Yushau added that with this development , we are expecting to see improvements in tackling security challenges squarely.
The leader of the Guard Corps said, although, it is interesting to say that the strategy is to discourage reactive operations and boost proactive approach against banditry , kidnapping and other sundry crimes in the state.
While noting that conventional security operations were not enough, the Guard Corps Committee Chairman disclosed that the recruitment of the guards had started yielding fruitful results as significant improvement in the security situation of the state was fast encouraging.
The state government with the active participation of security forces, will continue to give comprehensive training and guidance to the guards as well as certify and assess their mental , psychological, physical, human relations and religious guidance in the course of discharging their duties of complementing security forces, Yushau opined.
However, Kebbe added” we will also give priority to engaging religious leaders , village and District Heads. No fewer than 2,000 of the recruited guards will be deployed across communities in the 23 LGAs of Sokoto State.
Answering fielded questions, Yushau said, “we have taken into cognizance the importance of paying attention to how they will use defence tools to be given to them in order to control misuse against accidental discharge.
