Kogi State governor, Usman Ododo, has said that his state government recovered 30 General Purpose Machine Guns from notorious terrorist Kachallah Ibrahim Battujo, who was killed mid-last month in a raid by security forces in forests in the state.
Governor Ododo, who spoke on Wednesday in Abuja, also disclosed that, at least 150 of the over 200 attack drones his administration bought, have hit their desired targets.
The governor didn’t, however, specify if it was one of the attack drones that killed Battujo, who was reportedly behind a recent attack on a school in Iluke-Bunu, Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of the state.
According to the governor, the investments his state government made in security have been paying off, stating that his colleagues in some neighboring states were already copying the Kogi State model of fighting insecurity.
Aside adequately funding the State vigilante services, the governor said he designed a framework to integrate them.into the state civil service.
Despite being surrounded on all sides by nine states and thick forests, said Ododo, his administration has been able to deploy human and material resources to make the state unattractive for terrorists and bandits.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu, as well as the heads of security agencies, especially the Department of State Services (DSS), for supporting his drive to make Kogi one of the safest states in the country.
The governor, who lamented that the lack of verifiable data on the quantity of solid minerals in the country was keeping foreign investors away from the sector, said his administration was trying to raise N7 billion to survey the quantity of two of the several solid mineral resources on the state.
Disclosing that Kogi State is rich in such rare earth minerals as lithium and platinum, Governor Ododo said necessitated the construction of the Zariagi International Airport.
“No serious investor would fly into Abuja and take the over two-hour road trip to Kogi State because he wants to invest in solid minerals. They would be scared stiff by reports of insecurity. That is why we are building an airport to handle such concerns,” said Ododo.
On the proposed creation of state police, the governor expressed surprise at the fears in some quarters of the potential abuse by governors, saying states were already running state police under the guise of vigilante services.
“State police some people are afraid of is already with us in the form of the various security outfits created by state governors. In my opinion, the only difference is that these security outfits will now be licenced to bear AK- 47 rifles. That is all,” he noted.
On the issue of political opposition in the states, Ododo said he has been able to deploy consultations with political and other leaders to bridge the gap of opposition in the state.
According to him, rather than consult or engage the opposition in their states, several governors resort to spending huge sums of money to silence the opposition, stressing, “at the end of the day, they would have so distracted achieving very little in office.”
He said his modest gains in terms of security, infrastructure development, education, healthcare and financial empowerment, has helped whittle down the opposition base in Kogi State, demanding, “what else will you promise to do for the people that we aren’t already doing?”
