Open letter to IGP Solomon Arase

Let me also acknowledge that your elevation comes with added responsibilities. It demands more sacrifice and hard work given the many security challenges facing the nation.The crux of this letter revolves around the unfairness in the provision of security on the nation’s highways, between Abuja-Kaduna and Kaduna-Kano expressways.For long, motorists on this axis have been […]

Let me also acknowledge that your elevation comes with added responsibilities. It demands more sacrifice and hard work given the many security challenges facing the nation.
The crux of this letter revolves around the unfairness in the provision of security on the nation’s highways, between Abuja-Kaduna and Kaduna-Kano expressways.
For long, motorists on this axis have been having traumatic experiences at the hands of criminals, specifically notorious armed robbers, but the lopsided way in which police and the army are providing security along this very important route (Zaria-Kano) leaves much to be desired.
This writer survived yet another deadly robbery incident last Friday, May 14 around 9-10 pm, between Zaria and Kano, through providence and quick escape inside the nearby bush.
But Sir, if I can run like Usain Bolt or Nigeria’s mercurial sprinter Blessing Okagbare for dear life, what of others, especially the elderly, the physically challenged, and women and children? Who will save them from the den of robbers?
That brings about the inexplicable issue of disparity in the provision of security services along this high way, which is at the root of this problem, because whereas the portion between Abuja to Kaduna can be said to be well secured through combined and constant security operations via constant patrols by police and the army; Zaria to Kano isn’t that lucky. It does not enjoy the same attention which leaves it venerable to criminal activities. Now, the question begging for answer is whether Abuja-Kaduna highway is more important than the Zaria-Kano end which warrants the heavy security presence there at all times.
And I don’t want to believe the widespread notion that it is due to the large number of important dignitaries who frequently shuttle between Abuja and Kaduna that the security forces are duty bound to accord it higher priority than the others.
But given the way Zaria-Kano highway is neglected in comparison to Abuja-Kaduna, one might be forced to attach some grain of truth into the clearly preposterous opinion.
This letter therefore, serves as a modest ‘save-our-soul’ call aimed at bringing to the attention of the inspector general of police, and General Officer Commanding 1Div. Kaduna, the urgent need to equally provide adequate security for travellers along the Zaria-Kano highway in order to reduce to the barest minimum the rate of criminal activities on the route.
Kabiru Tsakuwa, Kano
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>;