By Dele Moses, Ilorin
Senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara South Senatorial District, Saheed Popoola, has expressed worry over alleged persistence of kidnapping and other security challenges in the district.
He advised the state government to be more committed to overcoming the challenges and should not, by its conduct, create impression that it was not interested in putting an end to them.
Popola made the advice when he spoke at a personality interview programme of the state Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) tagged “News Keg”.
The district and the north senatorial district in the state are beset with insecurity as bandits regularly operate by kidnapping or killing people and destroying property of the residents.
The Federal Government has recently intervened by establishing a division of the Nigerian Army in the state with creation of a battalion in Omu-Aran town, in the south district.
However, Popoola alleged that kidnapping still persists in the district and that many victims remain in the den of the kidnappers because their people have not been able to provide the ransom being demanded for their release.
He alleged that the continuous kidnapping was hardly known in the public because the state government did not want it reported.
The politician said that while he was not accusing the government of knowing about the kidnapping, the government should be more active and should stop discouraging report of the criminal activities so that it does not create impression that it knows about the activities.
He said if elected the senator, he would give a priority attention to security in the district to make the area safe for economic and commercial activities.
The PDP candidate who noted that the district is endowed with an expanse of land suitable for agricultural activities said he would promote the activities among youths in the district to keep them commercially engaged and boost food security of the state.
He said he would do this after ensuring the the district is liberated from the security problem ravaging it at present because without security it would be difficult for the people to engage in agricultural practices.
The politician said as a senator, he would have liaison officers in all the 83 wards in the district and make the impact of his office felt in the wards.
The Offa-born senatorial candidate, while speaking on the visit to his hometown, led by the leader of the PDP in the state, Bukola Saraki recently, said he owed nobody any apology for apologising to Saraki for wrong accusation he had made against him previously over the 2018 armed robbery attack in Offa town.
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