EX-AIG urges FG to tackle injustice, ignorance

A retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Alhaji Bashir Albasu, has called on the Federal Government to address growing level of injustice, ignorance, poverty and corruption at the grassroots.

Albasu made the appeal an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of 2nd Edition of the 2015 Nigeria Security Exhibition and Conference (NISEC) in Abuja yesterday.

Albasu said in addition to what the Federal Government was doing to fight insurgency, government should go to the grassroots to make sure that it prevent injustice and other factors that fuel terrorism.

“These are what fuel terrorism, going to Sambisa Forest to completely wipe out the terrorists is a very good and excellent effort.

“But what do you do with what breed terrorism because if you wipe out the Boko Haram terrorists today without addressing the root causes of it the situation might resurface.

“I remember 30 years ago, when President Shehu Shagari was in power, we had Maitatsine uprising in Kano which led to the death of over 10,000 innocent citizens.

“The military was used to subdue the Maitatsine uprising and peace was restored in Kano.

“Similarly, in Maiduguri before the present security challenge there was another one but I have forgotten the name they were calling themselves, it was also knocked down by the military.

“And now we are fighting the Boko Haram. This shows that what we are doing is to allow the tree to grow and then cut the top of the tree and the branches.

“That means the root is still intact in the ground and the tree will still grow again,” Albasu said.

The Nation